A new beginning
by Roxie5901
Summary: this is another kushina and minato fanfic. it takes place back a little before kakashi gaiden and around the third great ninja war, its my first attempt with writing in 3rd person so please flame and review so i can get better!
1. Chapter 1

Hi! This is chapter one and the first story/chapter that i have ever written in 3rd person, which is a lot different from 1st person than u might think! I wanted to try it out so please let me know how to improve! Please review and flame so i can work on it! Thanks for reading! Chapter two should be out soon, like next week or in a few days - Roxie

Beginnings

"I'm not going." Said a blonde boy in a flat, uncaring voice. He arched an eyebrow that disappeared into the fringe of his hair. "Why would I ever want to go with _you _to a festival? That has to be the stupidest thing anyone has ever suggested."

"Why not?!" exclaimed the white haired man he was talking to. He frowned in annoyance at his student, who was being purposely difficult. "It will be fun! There will be a lot of girls there too"

He said this while smiling suggestively at his twelve year old student. Minato just frowned in clear disapproval at his teachers antics.

_He's being ridiculous _Minato thought feeling a bit annoyed _this is definitely not want I want to be doing tonight. . . I have to train for my chunin exams anyways_

"Who has time to go to some stupid festival anyways? Unlike you, I have an exam tomorrow and am busy. Go by yourself, just don't cause any trouble."

"Oh, come on Minato! It will be fun! You need to loosen up" Jiraiya smiled and then winked playfully at his student that was currently glaring at him. "You're only young once"

_And I lose a year off of my life every time I talk to you _Minato thought bitterly. But already he was starting to warm up to the idea of going. He knew his sensei would probably talk him into it in the end anyways.

Jiraiya smiled as he watched Minato ponder what he was saying. Then with a big grin he slipped an arm around his shoulder and whispered into his ear "You need any pick up lines for tonight? I got a bunch that are 100% fool proof"

Minato's face turn slightly red as he glared at Jiraiya again. Minato frowned and began to walk off towards the direction of the ramen stand while resisting the urge to hit his sensei for being such a creep.

_He's like a pedophile or something _Minato thought trying not to smile at the thought. Jiraiya noticed his mischievous smile and guessed at what he was thinking. He frowned, before he thought of a good way to get even with the boy.

"Don't forget, the festival starts at eight! I'll see you there!" shouted Jiraiya, drawing attention from all the onlookers and, unfortunately, all of Minato's fan girls, just as he had planned. Minato groaned before he began to slowly retreat from the heard of girls forming around him.

As he ran through the forest back towards the training grounds he promised himself that the next time he saw his teacher he would get him back. He smiled when he realized that that would be tonight, at eight.

Just as soon as the smile was there it disappeared at the thought of the festival. Even though Minato hadn't said _yes_ he hadn't said _no_ either. And he realized that he would probably end up having to go.

The thought of being harassed by all his psycho fan-girls was not a pleasant thought and he would prefer to avoid that at all costs. He also knew that he'd have to go out and by a kimono for the freaking festival and that he'd have to spend the time with Jiraiya while he picked up girls half his age.

_Tonight is definitely going to suck _he complained in his head with a silent groan. Minato had just arrived at the training grounds and the rest of his team was there already. A girl with shoulder length black hair was tossing a kunai at a tree.

"Yo! Minato!" yelled Takari, a boy with short, dark brown hair, as he ran up to greet his teammate. "You're late! Me and Asami have been waiting for ever!"

"Ha ha, sorry but I was stopped by sensei, and you know how he gets" said the blond while scratching the back of his head. It was a habit of his, he did it whenever he making excuses or lying.

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever!" said Asami while putting her hands on her hips. She was feeling rather annoyed with both of her teammates for wasting so much time. "Let's get practicing, the exam is tomorrow! And all you two seem to want to do is lounge around!"

Both boys started to protest but decided against it. It would be better to get practicing before Asami got anymore pissed off. While they were practicing throwing kunai, Minato's mind began to wander a bit.

"Are you guys going to the festival tonight?" Minato asked suddenly, startling the other two. Asami missed her target in surprised and Takari's kunai missed the tree completely.

"What?" Asked Asami, a little mad that she had missed her mark "Your thinking of going to a festival tonight of all nights?!"

"It's not like I wanted to" the blond said a bit defensively "Jiraiya sensei is making me go"

"Sure. . ." Takari said while trailing of with a smirk. Minato smiled at him and shoved him playfully while telling him to shut up.

"So are you guys going?"

"No way" Asami answered, frowning at Minato "I don't think you should be going either"

"Well its not you decision" Minato said while sticking out his tongue at her. He knew he was being childish but he hated being bossed around, especially by someone his own age. He saw her frown and begin to say something but he cut her off first.

"Takari, what about you? Are you in?" Minato asked then he whispered into Takari's ear, low enough for Asami not to hear, "Sensei said that there would be plenty of girls there. . ."

Takari's face lit up at that. Minato stifled a sigh and tried not to hide his disappointment at his friend easy infatuation with girls. Minato had never found girls that attractive. From what he seen, they usually were obnoxious and obsessive.

_And kill joys_ he thought silently while glancing at Asami. He looked at her with a critical eye. Her name meant "morning beauty" but her personality tended to conflict with her looks. Even though Minato respected her as a kunoichi and knew she was a good person he still didn't find her attractive. To him she was the same as all the other girls.

"I'm in" said Takari breaking Minato's train of thought. Minato tried not to smile because he knew it would provoke Asami but she didn't miss his lips twitching into a smile.

She frowned and shook her head in disapproval. "I guess training today is done" she said with a sigh. They hadn't accomplished anything except for target practice. She was sure Minato, top genin of their class, could become a chunin with ease but she worried about herself and Takari. She doubted they could keep up with Minato's fast pace for mush longer.

She sighed again and saw Minato look at her. She quickly smiled to hide her inner turmoil and Minato just shrugged and went back to his conversation with Takari about the festival.

Her eyes narrowed a bit; for someone who didn't want to go, and was being forced against his will, he seemed a bit _to_ into making plans and arrangements.

"So come over to my place at like seven thirty" Minato said brightly. He was in a great mood now. The festival wouldn't be half bad if Takari was there to lighten things up.

"Okay I'll see you then. Asami, wait up! You sure you don't want to come?" Takari called as he went after their only female teammate. Minato rolled his eyes at them and continued home alone.

At 7:38pm Takari showed up in a green kimono along with a reluctant Asami in a bright purple kimono. Her hair was down for once, a fact that Takari had noticed. He thought she looked kinda cute like that. . .

"When is sensei coming?" Asked Asami in a bored tone, apparently this wasn't her first choice of places she wanted to be right now.

"Soon" answered Minato. Seventeen minutes late (at 8:17) Jiraiya showed up looking slightly flushed and breathing hard. He had ran all the way here from a research session and had went home only to throw on a maroon kimono.

"Finally" Minato said exasperated. He wasn't really mad at his sensei but he couldn't resist teasing him a bit.

"Alright, come on" Jiraiya said with a smile as he ruffled Minato's hair. Minato complained but Jiraiya ignored him. In about fifteen minutes they had arrived at the center of the village.

The village was done up with lanterns and ninja from all different villages walked the streets. You could tell them apart from the citizens because the wore some mark from home, like their headbands.

There were so many stands that usually weren't open, selling unusual food, like fried squid. All in all it was an amazing sight.

Minato, Takari, and Asami all left Jiraiya to go off to play some of the festival games. Jiraiya was more than happy to let them go. He had a nice blond date waiting for him back at home anyways.

"Ah, I won!" Asami said with a smile as she claimed a fake ANBU mask as her prize. It was a wolf mask. The three of them had been playing the game were you try to scoop fish with rice paper. Asami could've kept the fish but she dropped it back in to the water anyways. She didn't want to carry it around all night.

"How'd you do that!" Minato exclaimed as his paper broke again. There was a pile forming in between him and Takari from all their failed attempts.

"I don't know" Asami said with fake innocence "Maybe because I have skills?"

"Ha ha nice joke" Takari replied dryly as his paper broke again. "As if this counts as a skill!"

"Whatever" Minato said standing up and crossing his arms. He looked scornfully at the game, in truth he was embarrassed that he couldn't do it, but Asami could. Asami could tell and she tried to hide her giggle. Minato's face turned a little red from embarrassment which only added to her amusement.

"This is a kid's game anyways, let's go before we run out of money" Minato said in a sour tone. They walked around for a little while longer and Asami decided that she was going to go home.

"It's pretty late guys" she said while giving them a pointed look "You should turn in soon."

"Sure, sure" the boys answered knowing that they would be out for the next couple of hours. "See ya later"

"Bye"

Asami walked away feeling annoyed with her two teammates but decided that tonight had been fun. She slipped her mask on over her face, she had always wanted to be part of the ANBU. . .

"So what are we going to do now?" Takari asked, slipping an arm over Minato's shoulder. "You said there would be girls. . ."

"Fine" Minato said with a sigh, he had been hoping that Takari had forgotten about that, it was the last thing _he _wanted to do _here_.

_He's the same as Jiraiya _Minato thought smiling wryly _I should of have had those to go off by themselves and just walked around with Asami_

"Awesome!" Takari said feeling satisfied "Let's go check out some shops then!"

"Why shops?" Minato asked. He couldn't think of one good reason that there would be more girls in a shop than out here in the crowded streets.

"Because" Takari said while trying to look disappointed with his blond teammate "Girls love to shop of course!"

Minato groaned at his bad, but accurate logic. He muttered a whatever and followed Takari into a shop. His first thoughts had been that Takari had been right.

The store was full of them. But most of them were like twenty and over or eight and younger. There was of course the occasional girl their age but more often than not it turned out to be one of Minato's fangirls.

"Minato!" one of the girls from his village exclaimed. She had long blond hair that was pulled up into a messy bun. Minato shuddered when he saw her. She was the leader of his fangirls.

"Hello" he said cautiously, trying not to make any sudden moves. He backed up towards the entrance.

"You look good in a kimono" she said while taking a step towards him. She couldn't believe how good her luck was! Minato was almost to the door now.

"Thanks" he said quickly.

_Here's my chance! _She thought. She smiled an alluring smile as she reached out towards him. And then he bolted out the door.

Minato was running through the village so fast that he was nothing but a blur. About half way through his sprint he turned around just to make sure that she hadn't somehow been able to keep up with him.

And then he slammed into someone. Hard. He stumbled backwards and the other person fell to the ground. _Shit _he thought hastily _what if he's hurt?!_

"Are you okay?" Minato said while offering out a hand. The girl on the ground looked up at him through a curtain of fire red hair. She was dressed in a kimono the same color. Her hair was pulled back into a bun but her bangs fell messily across her eyes. She met his gaze with beautiful emerald eyes.

"Yeah, Perfect actually"

* * *

Roxie: Yah so that was chapter one, lol unlike "Eternal Spring" i'm not going to immeditly make this a love story, first i'm just going to focus on their friendship before it turns into love. This fic is going to be around 5 chapters unless i decided to make it longer so remember to review and flame! (oh and btw etenal spring is my other fanfic just in case u were confused) thanks again -roxie


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to **KlausVxClaireR, Forgotten Werewolf, Adel**, and **Contresting_Death** for reviewing, i really appreciate it and btw Adel i put up a new chapter of Eternal Spring before i put this one up, Thanks for reading, please review and flame! -Roxie

_**New Encounters**_

"Are you okay?" Minato said while offering out a hand. The girl on the ground looked up at him through a curtain of fire red hair. She was dressed in a kimono the same color as her hair. She met his gaze with beautiful emerald eyes.

"Yeah, perfect actually"

The girl said while she reached out and grabbed his outstretched hand. She was a little pissed that she had dirtied her kimono but she didn't truly mind. She probably would have done it herself sooner or later.

She was usually a mess, but today she had actually spent a little time on her appearance. Only because she was so far away from home. Otherwise she probably would have just gone out in shorts and a t-shirt like any other day.

Minato looked down at the girl nervously, he was wondering if she could be another one of his fangirls, but so far she seemed reasonably sane. She looked up suddenly, stared at his forehead for a minute, and then smiled.

"Are you going to be in the chunin exams tomorrow?" she asked while staring at his forehead.

"Yeah. . . how did you know?" Minato asked feeling confused. He hadn't said anything about being a ninja to this girl. She laughed once at his confused expression and pointed to his forehead.

"Your headband kinda tipped me off, so are you taking the exams?" she asked looking at him with her bright green eyes. He stared back into her eyes, admiring the color. Most people had black or brown eyes in Konoha.

It took him a minute to figure out that she had been staring at his village headband. When he looked back at her he could see that she had one as well, hidden under the thick curtain of her bangs. But he couldn't make out the symbol.

"Yeah, are you?" he asked with genuine curiosity. He didn't know why but he found this girl very interesting, from the odd color of her hair to her exotic eyes. She was just different from anyone he had talked to in Konoha.

"Yup! That means you're my opponent starting tomorrow" she said with a laugh. She smiled at him and he felt himself smiling back before he realized it.

_She's so happy _he thought, smiling at her _she doesn't seem to have a care in the world. . ._

"So you're a Konoha ninja" she said while taking a closer look at his headband. She was mildly surprised and a bit impressed. Konoha, being one of the five great villages, was known for their skilled ninja.

"Yeah, what village are you from?" Minato asked. He wanted to figure out more about this strange girl. She smiled happily before responding.

"The whirlpool village" she said while brushing her bangs behind her ears.

Minato could see the symbol clearly now. He was a bit surprised that any whirlpool ninja would have the time to take the chunin exams, they were in the middle of a war after all and smaller villages like hers needed any ninja they could get.

When he looked back up at her he noticed that she was staring at him intently like she was waiting for something. After a few seconds of them staring at each other she began to frown in annoyance. A few seconds later he realized she must have asked him a question.

_Is this guy a retard? _The redhead thought feeling annoyed _or does he think he's too good to answer my question?_

"I'm sorry" Minato said while scratching the back of his head. It was another habit of his; he usually did it when he was embarrassed "Could you repeat that?"

She sighed and shook her head. _This guy really is a retard _she thought with a small smile. "I asked you what your name was."

"Oh" Minato said. He was a bit surprised he hadn't introduced himself yet; he was usual pretty good with things like that. "My name is Minato Namikaze. What's yours?"

"My name is Ku-"

"Kushina Uzumaki!" an angry voice shouted. A girl with chestnut brown hair stood across the street. "Where have you been? Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?!"

"Ahhhh shit" Kushina said while sweat dropping "That's my teammate, Misaki"

"Sounds like she's pretty upset" Minato answered. _Upset or psycho _he thought while staring at the fuming girl across the street. She was still shouting to Kushina over the crowd. At this point Kushina was pretending not to have noticed her.

"Why is she so mad" Minato asked. He couldn't imagine a reason why anyone could be mad at Kushina; she seemed like a pretty nice person.

"Because I was supposed to be shopping with her, but I got bored and ran off and left her all alone. . ." Kushina said with a nervous laugh. She turned to him and gave him a quick smile "I better go . . . good luck tomorrow! You're going to need it"

* * *

Kushina ran across the street leaving Minato standing there alone. He watched as she bowed her head in apology while Misaki yelled at her like she was a dog. It was pretty funny to watch.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. Minato whirled around and was surprised to see his sensei smiling at him with a huge grin. Minato stared back at him confused; why was he so happy?

"Hey, hey Minato" Jiraiya said while bending down to whisper into his student's ear "I see you found yourself a girlfriend"

"Are you drunk" Minato said flatly while turning away from his sensei to walk off. Jiraiya was going to say something back but decided not to waste his breath; besides he _was _drunk.

"Oh don't be like that" Jiraiya whined "What's her name?"

"I don't know who you're even talking about." Minato said feeling a little annoyed. This was one of the reasons he didn't talk to girls much.

As soon as he did Jiraiya would start asking him all these annoying questions. And this definitely was **not **a conversation he wanted to be having. Especially since he had only talked to her for two minutes.

"The red head, the red head!" Jiraiya said while gesturing to Kushina who was now giving some sort of excuse to Misaki. Jiraiya elbowed Minato in the side "She's pretty cute"

"Her name is Kushina; she's from the whirlpool village. She's here for the exams" Minato said. He didn't want to talk to his sensei about her especially since there were no feelings between them. Minato glanced in her direction.

Misaki was gesturing towards him, probably asking who he was. Minato watched Kushina laugh once and then give a reply.

_I wonder what she said_ he thought absentmindedly

Jiraiya followed Minato's gaze across the street where the girls were now laughing. He smiled knowingly at his student and gave a quick wink. Before Minato could protest though he began speaking

"Takari was looking for you, seems like you ditched him inside of some shop" Jiraiya said while raising an eyebrow in disapproval "You better go find him"

"Oh, I totally forgot about him" Minato said "See you tomorrow, and don't be late!"

Before Jiraiya could respond Minato ran off and got lost in the crowd. Jiraiya sighed and decided to go to the hot springs to do some more "research"

* * *

Kushina saw a flash of yellow in her peripheral vision and realized it was Minato a second later, running through the crowd incredibly fast, like when he had ran into her. She smiled at that.

_He's going to run into someone again _she thought with a laugh _guess he hasn't learned his lesson _she reached into her pocket and pulled out a frog shaped wallet _too bad he hasn't realized that I stole his wallet_

"What's so funny?" Misaki asked while turning to face Kushina "And what's up with that wallet?"

Kushina laughed a little and Misaki followed her gaze to Minato who was getting further and further away. But with his blond hair he was still easy to pick out in the crowd. Misaki gasped and then giggled.

"You stole his wallet didn't you" she said in a low whisper, she was trying to look disapproving but she loved pranks just as much as Kushina did. Kushina's smile widened

"Only to teach him to watch where he was going" Kushina said defensively  
I'll give it back tomorrow, at the exams, that's why I asked if he was going to be there. I'll let him sweat over it for a little while tonight though" she added with a wink

"You're so mean" Misaki said with a laugh. "We should go meet up with sensei though, were about thirteen minutes late anyways, because _someone _went missing"

"Sorry, but you should've known better! Taking me_, shopping,_ what did you expect?"

"Yeah, yeah I know" Misaki said while giving her friend a look. Kushina was very pretty but she didn't have a boyfriend and one of the main reasons for that was because she was _friends_ with all the guys and because she was _too _unfeminine.

"And what happened to that hair clip I bought you yesterday?" Misaki asked while crossing her arms. Misaki had given it to Kushina in an attempt to dress her up a little more. Kushina's hands ran through her hair and she realized it was missing.

"I must've dropped it when me and Minato collided!" Kushina exclaimed. She actually felt sad; it was a nice clip, and the only accessory that she owned.

Misaki shook her head disappointedly; Kushina was a lost cause. Even when she had run into a boy as handsome as Minato she hadn't even tried to flirt. Misaki couldn't believe it, considering she would've made a move the first chance she got.

"Let's just go" Misaki said "We'll never find it with all these people walking around anyways"

"Fine" Kushina said as she walked off with her friend to go find their sensei.

* * *

The next day Kushina woke up with a start. Misaki was leaning over shouting at her to get up. Kushina was still half asleep and couldn't figure out why she was so upset and then it hit her.

"Holy shit!" Kushina exclaimed while rolling out of bed. She got tangled in her sheets and fell to the floor but was up again in seconds. "We're going to be late!!!"

Kushina rushed to her dresser and grabbed a pair of shorts, they were baggy and fell to her knees but she couldn't care less about what she looked like. She quickly pulled her shirt over her head and threw on a tank top.

She threw some bread in the toaster and then got to work on her hair. She brushed it a few times then gave up and threw her hair back into a messy pony tail. By that time the toast had popped back up.

"Let's go" she said as she grabbed the food, eating it as she began to run. Misaki was a few feet behind her complaining about how she looked like crap.

"It doesn't matter" Kushina snapped. Being late and up this early had put her in a bad mood and she wasn't planning on listening to Misaki complain about things that weren't important the whole way there.

They ran through the village and got lost twice. By the time they got to the freaking stadium they were about to start the opening ceremony. Kushina sweat dropped as she saw the look on her sensei's face.

Her other teammate, the only boy on the team, looked just as mad. Kushina walked over while smiling apologetically and Misaki waved while trying to look innocent. As Kushina took her place with her team she felt someone staring at her.

She looked up, preparing to flip whoever it was off, but was surprised when she met a pair of blue eyes. She didn't know why she was so surprised (he had said he was going to be here after all) but he just looked different from how he did last night.

He wasn't smiling warmly or laughing he looked serious and focused. _Like he should _she thought but for some reason it bothered her a little. _Is he mad that I took his wallet? _She wondered. She reached for her pocket to check it was still there; it would be bad if she had lost it

_Minato Namikaze _she thought. She had heard that name before but she couldn't remember where. It had been bothering her ever since last night. She tried to remember but couldn't so she simply gave up

_It doesn't really matter anyways _she thought while trying to refocus her thoughts on the man, who she guessed was the hokage, giving a speech. She caught bits and pieces, something about a test and scrolls or something. Finally the speech ended, twenty minutes later.

Kushina looked over at Minato; he was standing with his squad. There was a girl with black hair who looked like she lived by the rules, and a boy who was slouching against a wall looking like he was liable to pass out any second.

The man with the white hair was the biggest surprise. Kushina recognized him immediately as one of the three sanin. He looked up and met her glance. He winked at her and she looked down embarrassed from being caught staring. She watched as she whispered something to Minato and she just felt even more embarrassed

A few minutes later she got over her embarrassment. She shrugged and walked over to Minato, tossing him the wallet. "You lost this yesterday" she said with a smile.

He didn't look surprised like he should have. He looked like he had expected her to do this. She stared at him, puzzled and he smiled back at her.

"Thanks" he said in a happy voice. He was enjoying her reaction; she seemed so surprised, like she couldn't comprehend that he wasn't mad. Truthfully he wasn't.

"You're welcome?" she said not really knowing how to continue. Minato looked past her shoulder and smiled.

"Your friend seems in a better mood today" he observed. He was watching Misaki get scolded by Kushina's sensei. The boy on the team just stared at him and Kushina with disapproval.

"Ah, well Misaki forgave me yesterday. . ." she paused and then wondered once again why he wasn't mad. It was really freaking her out so she decided to just ask "Why aren't you mad?"

Minato paused for a second, surprised by her blunt question. "Why would I be mad?" he smiled at her "just because you took my wallet? I'm not five"

Kushina turned red from the slight insult to her maturity and Minato continued on "Besides I have it back so it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"I guess not" Kushina answered unsurely. He smiled at her and then handed her a hair clip that she had been wearing yesterday

"Besides as soon as you took my wallet I took your clip, so were even" he said smiling even wider. Kushina gasped; she hadn't even noticed him taking it. That explained how she lost it. She felt a little annoyed but not to mad.

She could appreciate a good prank and since she had started it she couldn't exactly get mad. So she smiled, like he had done when she handed him the wallet.

Minato was surprised but he composed his face a second later. He didn't know how he thought she was going to react but, from what he knew of her, he had expected a stronger emotion from her, like anger. She laughed and then smiled again.

"I think we're going to be great friends" she said while holding out a hand for him to shake. "Truce?"

He looked at her hand for a second before extending his own. For some reason he felt slightly embarrassed. She grabbed his hand and they shook hands for a minute. She really did think that they would be friends.

If he was willing to take a joke than there was no reason why they wouldn't be. She looked up at him; he still hadn't let go of her hand. The look in his eyes gave her the impression he was spaced out, or lost in his own thought.

_I wonder what he's thinking about _she said while looking at his blue eyes.

_Her hands are soft _he thought in surprise. Kushina had long, slim fingers that looked like they had played the piano in another life. She had calluses on her palms, which he thought were the result of training, but he still thought she had soft hands.

She looked up at him expectantly and he froze; had she asked him another question. _I forgot _Kushina thought with a sigh _He's mentally retarded. _She looked pointedly down at their hands.

Minato glanced down to, and realized he hadn't let go yet. She smiled at him unsurely and he let go immediately as if her hand had burned him, his face turning a little red.

"S-Sorry" he said while scratching the back of his head. She smiled back at him tentatively.

"Do you always space out?" Kushina asked. The question might've seemed rude but Kushina didn't even realize it. Before Minato could respond Ayami his name.

"Minato" Ayami called "We're going to leave with out you"

"I'm coming!" Minato called back. He turned back to Kushina and with a quick wave ran back off to join his team. He felt oddly embarrassed and couldn't wait to leave. Kushina smiled and stifled a laugh at his behavior

_He's so weird _she thought with a smile as she walked back over towards her team. They were off to take some sort of test (which she new she would flunk; she had never been good in school).

* * *

Roxie: Thanks for reading! Please review and flame


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, i am so full from all the food i ate yesterday, well here's the new chapter, review and flame please :) thanks to **HarunoRin**, **Yuki-U **and **Kushina Uzumaki 92** -Roxie

**_Hospital_**

The first thing Kushina saw when she opened her eyes was the bright lights of a hospital room. She blinked twice and looked around; she didn't really remember how she had gotten here.

Her arms ached and her body felt a little sore but otherwise she felt fine. She glanced at her arms and realized they were bandaged all the way from her wrists to her shoulders. She stared at them puzzled; when had she gotten hurt?

"Ah, Your finally up" Tsunade said as she stepped into the room. Her blond pigtails swishing behind her, as she wrote something down. "I thought you'd be asleep for a few more hours. You recover pretty fast"

"What happened" Kushina said while holding up one of her arms "I thought I won the fight?"

The last thing Kushina remembered was her fight against a genin from the mist village. She had safely made it past the first two tests and had advanced to the final rounds, where she had to fight another genin. It had been a close fight but she had won in the end. She remembered being announced the winner so why was she here.

"You did win, but you cut yourself up in the process. Couldn't you feel the lacerations during the fight?"

"No, not at all" Kushina said while staring down at her arms mystified. Tsunade just laughed and shook her head. How could she not have noticed getting that badly hurt?

Tsunade wrote a few more things down on her clipboard and then looked back up at Kushina.

"If you feel well enough, you're free to leave tomorrow morning, but you need to stay overnight tonight. Just try taking it easy for a few days" She reached for something in her pocket and tossed it to the red head. "And take these twice a day; once in the morning once at night."

"Thanks" Kushina called, but the woman was already down the hall, probably off to deal with more patients. Kushina sighed and fell back onto her pillows with a soft thump. She stared at the ceiling, already feeling bored.

This is why she hated hospitals. They were completely sterile and had nothing good to eat (which was her main concern) not to mention that she couldn't train, or even walk around. She sighed again and closed her eyes.

* * *

Minato chuckled quietly to himself as he heard Kushina sigh again. He walked over to her bed as quietly as he could and flicked her on the forehead. She sat up with a start- her hand immediately flying to where her kunai should've been (but of course the hospital had unarmed her).

"If you keep sighing so much, then your going to get gray hairs" he said while smiling brightly. Kushina smiled at him in return. Minato's eyes flickered to her arms, they were heavily bandaged. She noticed his gaze and she smiled as she shrugged

"This is nothing a good night's sleep won't fix" she said, trying to reassure him; she hated it when people worried about her. It made her feel weak. When he continued to stare at her arms with concern she decided to change the topic.

"Did you win your fight?" She asked. Minato looked up at her, wondering what she meant, and then realized she was talking about the exams. He had won easily over his opponent from the rock; it was hardly a challenge.

"Yeah. . ." he answered distractedly. He was still worried about her. He had watched her fight and noticed her injuries before she had. She hadn't even felt them but they had been bleeding pretty badly. He remembered when she collapsed as soon as they had announced her the winner.

He had been to the hospital everyday that she had been asleep, not that she knew that. She had been sleeping for three days and he was worrying over her constantly. He had barley met her a week ago but he couldn't help but think of her as a life long friend.

Her cheeks were red and she was biting her lip as if shrugging had caused her pain. _It probably did _he thought warily _but of course she won't admit to that_ he frowned; what if she did have a fever?

He leaned forward and studied her face. Kushina blushed slightly at his sudden closeness but he didn't notice; he thought her cheeks were red because she had a fever. She swallowed hard trying to find her voice; she had suddenly found it very hard to talk.

"W-What are you doing" She stammered, still trying to find her composure. He smiled and leaned back, and she exhaled in relief. She hadn't even realized that she had been holding her breath and her face still felt hot.

"Try to figure out if you have a fever" he said with another grin "But you seem okay"

"O-Of course I am" she sniffed. She looked around the room with a glare and then turned her gaze back to Minato "Please tell me that you've come to break me out"

He laughed and smiled warmly at her again. He found everything she said funny. "Do you want to leave?" he asked as he chuckled; it was a rhetorical question but Kushina answered anyways.

"Let's go!" she rolled out of bed and stammered, feeling off balanced from sleeping so long. Her vision blurred and she suddenly felt very tired. Her eyes slid shut and she fell forward, the floor rushing up to meet her.

Before she hit the floor Minato caught her, she was aware that he was asking her questions but she was too tired to try and answer them. She felt safe with Minato though, and she fell back to sleep willingly.

Minato was shocked, but he acted quickly, calling Tsunade back into the room. Tsunade stared at Kushina and couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. Obviously the red-head shouldn't have been walking around; there was a reason why she told her to stay the night.

"Don't worry" Tsunade said with a sigh "She's fine, just anemic. She lost too much blood the other day and still hasn't recovered yet."

"Oh" Minato said blankly as he looked down at Kushina. He felt a sudden wave of relief at the news though and couldn't help but smile at her unconscious form. It was just so like her. . .

He laid her on the bed and left so Tsunade could run some tests, just to be safe. On his way out he ran in to Misaki, the girl from Kushina's team.

"Hey" he said as he walked up to her. Misaki glanced up and was surprised to see the blond boy that Kushina had pick pocketed before the exams. She had seen him everyday that she came to visit Kushina. She suspected that there was something going on between them but hadn't had a chance to ask Kushina yet.

"You going to see Kushina?"

"Yeah" she answered, while noticing his amazing blue eyes.

"I was just up there, she fainted from anemia a few minutes ago, so I doubt you'll get to see her"

"Oh" Misaki said, her good mood rapidly disappearing. She had hoped Kushina would be better and able to be at the apartment tonight, it was lonely without the red-head around. Misaki missed Kushina's outbursts and found their temporary home deathly quiet without her.

* * *

When Kushina opened her eyes again she saw the same hospital room but it was darker. The moon was shining in the sky and the stars were lit up. She sighed as she remembered what happened.

_How embarrassing _Kushina thought, wincing mentally at the fact that _Minato _had caught her _he probably thinks I'm weak now. . . _

Her legs felt oddly heavy for some reason. She looked down and was surprised to see Minato asleep on her lap. She blushed lightly for a second, but soon got over her initial embarrassment.

_I wonder how long he's been here _she thought while smiling at him _He really is an odd guy. . ._

She reached out tentatively to touch his head. When she was younger that was what her mother always did with her, to make sure she didn't have bad dreams. She reached out and gently ran her fingers through his wild blond hair.

She felt embarrassed and silly again so she quickly withdrew her hand a few seconds later. He stirred in his sleep though and opened his blue eyes to stare at her in surprise. Apparently he didn't realize that he had fallen asleep. She felt a smile one her lips again.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered. She had no idea what time it was but she knew it was late.

"I came to visit" he said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. He grinned at her and she felt her lips pull up into a smile in response. For the rest of the night they had a whispered conversation.

They talked about everything that Kushina could think of. She described growing up in the whirlpool for Minato, described all her friends and enemies, all the places she loved and wanted to show him and in return he described what life had been like in Konoha.

Kushina found it fascinating and was eager to visit the places he mentioned as soon as she got out of the hospital. He smiled and told her that he'd come and get her at twelve the next day and take her on an "official" tour. She smiled in response and he left soon after.

The next day, as promised, he took her on a tour. They visited the hokage monument and any shops that Minato thought she might like. The whole time they kept talking about Kushina and Minato's teammates.

"What about you? You have one of the _sanin _as a teacher" Kushina said while the walked into some ramen place that Minato had demanded they go into (not that she needed much persuasion).

"Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato said with a laugh "I'm sure you'll meet him soon enough; he's a huge flirt and perv"

"Really?" Kushina asked, surprised that one of the honorable sanin could have such a reputation.

"Yep, even ask Tsunade, the lady who was taking care of you in the hospital. She's part of the sanin too. She knows Jiraiya even better than I do"

"Wow, that's still impressive" she said while playfully shoving him. He grinned in response at the compliment but didn't say anything else because their food had arrived.

Kushina studied the ramen in front of her for a minute before deeming it edible. She tentatively raised her chopsticks to her mouth and was pleasantly surprised that it was one of the best things that she'd ever eaten in her life.

"This is great" she exclaimed with a smile

"Of course" Minato said as he ate another huge mouthful of his. "Have as much as you want, I'll pay"

"Whatever you say" Kushina said with a smirk. He had no idea how much she could eat.

"How can you eat so much?!" Minato exclaimed, still shocked that she had managed to eat as much as he did.

"You said eat as much as I want" she responded with a sly grin

"Yeah, but-"

"Don't 'but' me. A ninja never takes back his words; that's my ninja way. So you better pay" The red-head said while crossing her arms. He shook his head but pulled out his wallet, knowing he couldn't argue with that logic.

"Thank you Minato-kun" she said with false innocence. He glared at her in reply but all she did was laugh as she dodged his playful punch. He was moving at half his regular speed so she knew he was joking around.

"Ah, I'm going to miss this place" Kushina said with another sigh as she looked around at Konoha, trying to take in as much as she could.

"What do you mean?" Minato asked, feeling confused. He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of Kushina having to leave.

"Well the chunin exams are over, everyone on my team passed, so that means we should be leaving in a few days or so." She looked around again "I don't want to go, Konoha's so nice"

"Are you serious?" he asked feeling annoyed at whatever system was sending his friend away

"Yep" she said as she stopped to sit on a bench. Minato joined her a second later. He was having trouble sitting still, because he was annoyed. Kushina noticed and leaned over and flicked him on the forehead.

"Don't worry, it's not like I won't see you again. Next time you take a mission that brings you to the whirlpool, I'll have to show you around."

"I'd like that" he said while regaining his good humor from earlier

"Then let's finish this tour so I can get back and pack"

That made Minato want to drag out the tour longer than he needed to. He had them stop at twice as many shops and dragged her anywhere he could think of. Her feet were killing her when they walked up to a dango shop.

"Let's get something to eat and sit down" she said, half complaining "My feet are killing me"

"How can you still be hungry after downing all those bows of ramen?" he asked with a laugh. She punched his shoulder before walking inside, annoyed when she heard him laugh.

"You ate just as much as me" she snapped, feeling annoyed. He had dragged her all over Konoha and she was not in a good mood anymore.

"True" he said with grin as they sat down at a table. The waitress came and took their orders and then disappeared back into the crowd.

"So what do you plan on doing as soon as you get back to whirlpool?" Minato asked, trying to conceal his curiosity. Kushina laughed before answering

"Looking for ways to come back and visit you and Konoha" she admitted

Minato smiled "I'll try to find a mission so I can come see whirlpool before you come back. I'm really curious about how you guys can survive around so many whirlpools. Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not if you know what you're doing" she said thinking back to when she was younger and had fallen into the whirlpools once, nearly drowning. Maybe it _was_ a little dangerous now that she thought about it.

"I'm still going to miss you" Minato said with a sigh.

"I'll miss you too but as I said, it's not like I'll never see you" she looked at him trying to see if he believed her or not. "And I'll write, so we can keep in touch"

"That sounds. . ." _bearable _Minato thought bitterly; he could already tell that he would miss the kunoichi in front of him far to much for letters to be any real comfort. "Okay"

"See" she said brightly. The waitress came with their dango and Kushina smiled at the food, already grabbing for three. Minato rolled his eyes but didn't bother saying anything. He was still in shock from the ramen stand.

* * *

Roxie: Thanks for reading! And happy thanksgiving! Review and Flame please!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, Merry Christmas (or any holiday that you celebrate) sorry it took so long to post, but I've been a little depressed lately so this chapter came out really bad, put i wanted to post so here it is, review and flame please and thanks to everyone who reviewed! -Roxie

* * *

**_Farewell_**

The next morning Minato rolled out of bed with a yawn. He had been up all night thinking about ways that Kushina could possibly stay in the village. He had eventually given up and fallen asleep at one point in the night, though.

There was a soft knock on his door and he crossed the room to open it. It was his mother. She was a woman of medium height with light brown hair and freckles decorating her face. It was a mystery to her how her son's hair had turned out to be blond but it didn't matter much to her.

"I'm going on a mission today, Minato. So you'll need to make yourself dinner tonight" she said with a sigh. She didn't like leaving Minato home alone. Her husband had died about two years ago so there was no one to stay with him.

She had considered quitting being a kunoichi, but decided against it since there was the war going on and because the pay was better than a normal job. She bent down and gave Minato a quick hug before she left.

"Bye" she called as she went down the stairs

". . . Bye" Minato said as he walked back into his room. He was used to his mom coming and going, and even though she tried, the two weren't extremely close. They were more like roommates then mother and son.

Minato sat back down on his bed and yawned again. He was really tired, he wanted to go back to sleep but he knew he wouldn't be able to. So he stood back up and threw on some combat clothes.

To pass the time he decided he would go train. Then after that he would go and find Kushina so they could hang out. _I wonder when exactly she has to leave. . . she said a few days but that doesn't really help_

He sighed as he hopped out the window, to lazy to walk downstairs and use the front door. He landed on the street with a soft thump and then continued on his way. He walked in a daze past all the shops while thinking about what he could get Kushina for a going away present.

* * *

He snapped back to reality when he slammed into someone. The person fell to the street with a thud. He looked down and was surprised to see a very annoyed red head staring back up at him.

"Kushina!" he said a little surprised, he smiled at her as he offered his hand. She didn't take it and got up on her own frowning at him in clear annoyance.

"You _have _to pay more attention to where you're going. This is the second time you've walked straight into me" she complained. He smiled sheepishly at her and scratched the back for his head

"Sorry" the blond said, he _had_ been zoning out lately, he promised himself that he'd work on that later

"Whatever" Kushina muttered. She noticed that Minato was armed as if he was heading out on a mission. "Are you leaving for a mission today?"

"Nah, but I was heading towards the training grounds to get some practice in" Minato answered. Kushina sighed in relief.

"That's good, cause I found out that I'm leaving tonight, and it would suck if you had to go on a mission and leave before that" she said while brushing her bangs back from her eyes.

"What!" Minato exclaimed, clearly upset by the news "You can't be leaving so soon"

"Of course I am" Kushina said with a sigh then lowered her voice to a murmur "I have to get back to whirlpool . . . the war is going on, you know"

He frowned but remained silent. He couldn't argue with that, and since Whirlpool wasn't one of the five great shinobi villages, they did need everyone they could get.

"Geez, don't look so sad" she said while she flicked his village headband "As I said yesterday, I'll be back"

"fine" he said with a sigh "Then what do you want to do today? I'll train later, after you leave"

"Well we've been to every shop in the village" she said while trying to get her bangs to stay back behind her ears "so how about I go back to my apartment and pack then we can go out for lunch!"

"We can go out to eat but I'm not paying for you again" he said remembering how much he spent yesterday "I'd go bankrupt if I did"

Kushina smiled and laughed at this and he smiled in response. Her mood was always catching. "Alright fine, I'll meet you at the Yamanaka flower shop in about an hour"

"Why the flower shop" the blond asked. He tried to picture the red head going in there to buy flowers but the opposing images wouldn't mix in his head. Kushina sighed and rolled her eyes, guessing what he was thinking.

"My sister likes flowers, and since we live around water they're hard to find so I thought I'd get her some while I'm here." Kushina said flatly

"Oh. . ." Minato said, a little disappointed by the simple answer. "See you in an hour then"

He said as he began to walk down the street. Kushina gave a wave and turned the opposite direction. After Minato took a few steps he turned and watched her as she walked down the streets.

She had worn her hair down today and it barely reached past her shoulder, just long enough to put up. And she was wearing a baggy t shirt and some shorts that went down to her knees. He smiled a little at this; she was just like a boy.

She looked so different from the time he had met her at the festival. She had looked like a girl then while she was wearing her kimono. Kushina felt someone's eyes on her back and she looked out of the corner of her eyes to see who.

She blushed slightly when she realized Minato was watching her. She stumbled a little and suddenly felt a bit self conscious. Did she look weird or something? She walked a little faster until she rounded the corner, and out of his line of sight.

* * *

One hour later they met up as planned; Kushina was holding a red blossom in her hands and smelling it when Minato walked up. She looked up at him and quickly put the flower back down, looking slightly embarrassed.

"You ready to go?" she asked cheerfully, Minato grinned and nodded eagerly. She laughed at his excitement and then stifled a sigh; she was going to miss him.

The blond noticed her distracted expression so he flicked her forehead like she often did to him when he was spacing out. Her emerald eyes focused on his blue ones for a second before narrowing into a glare

"What did you do that for" she demanded while putting her hands on her hips, he laughed at this.

"That's for spacing out" he said while he reached for one of her hands "Come on"

". . ." Kushina allowed him to pull her along, her face feeling hot for some reason that she didn't understand. He guided her back through the unfamiliar streets back to that same ramen stand they had eaten at yesterday

They ordered a bowl and Kushina started to eat her immediately. Normally, Minato would have shoveled his ramen down along with her, but he was just watching her. He was trying to memorize her face.

She looked over and their eyes met and he looked down hurriedly at his ramen, already feeling a blush spread across his face. He felt a bit silly for looking at her like that and the more he thought about the more embarrassed he got.

Kushina didn't notice his red face and continued to eat her ramen while rolling her eyes at his strange behavior. She had already decided that Minato was weird a long time before they had actually become friends.

When they finished, and paid the two of them decided to go to the lake, since Kushina was more comfortable around water than she was around trees. As soon as the red head saw the water she dashed out onto its surface with an impressive display of chakra control.

Minato walked to the shore and stared at the water uncertainly. He hadn't exactly learned how to walk on water yet. He didn't want to admit to that though so he shakily stepped out onto the surface of the water.

Kushina was staring at him (she couldn't figure out why he was walking so slow). He had managed to take a few steps out before he lost control of his chakra and fell into the lake.

Kushina bit her lip trying not to laugh at the sight before her. Minato was completely drenched and his hair (which was usually spiked up in a messy disarray) was now hanging down in his face.

She walked over to where he had fallen in, still shaking with the effort of not laughing. But when he grabbed her hand she bursted out laughing. Minato frowned at this and his cheeks grew red from embarrassment; he didn't like being laughed at

A smirk crossed his face as he pulled down hard on her hand causing her to fall into the water next to him. She came back up a second spitting out water and coughing. Minato started laughing at the look on her face, she looked dumbstruck.

"That's for laughing at me" he said while snickering. Kushina shook her head slowly debating about whether or not she should be angry or laugh with him. She settled on a wary smile that soon turned into a wicked grin.

"I can't believe you can't walk on water" she said while laughing "and I thought you were some sort of prodigy"

Minato frowned and swam over to the shore before responding "Well you don't learn that until you're a chunin in Konoha"

"Really?" Kushina choose to back float in the water rather than join him on land "It's one of the first things you learn at the academy in whirlpool; probably because of all the water"

"Yeah, probably" Minato said while emptying his pockets so all his belongings could dry off "In Konoha we learn how to climb trees"

Kushina raised an eyebrow at this and snickered at the idea. It wasn't that she thought learning how to climb trees with chakra wasn't a valuable skill, the idea just seemed so foreign to her and where she lived there was no point in climbing trees because there weren't any.

She floated over to the edge of the lake and pulled herself out of the water and onto the grass next to Minato. She took of her shoes and emptied her pockets like Minato had. Then she peeled of her wet shirt.

She had a black tank top underneath but she laughed when Minato's face turned red. After he had calmed down he decided to take off his shirt too so it could dry out. Kushina didn't seem to mind and she laid down on the grass and started up at the sky watching the birds fly over head.

* * *

Minato joined her a few seconds later, and they laid there without speaking for a while. It wasn't an awkward silence, . Minato glanced over at Kushina and smiled. She had fallen asleep. _Typical_ he thought while looking back up at the clouds.

Minato closed his eyes, not to sleep, but just to rest. The sun was still out even though it was getting late. His eyes shot open as he felt Kushina roll over onto him. Her head resting on his chest.

Her breathing was deep and slow so he assumed she was just asleep, but his face was bright red despite all that. He was sure he looked as flustered as he felt and that made him feel even more embarrassed.

"K-Kushina" he murmured. He wanted to wake her but then again he didn't; how would he explain their awkward position? He sighed and went to push her head of his chest but stopped.

_It doesn't _really _matter _he told himself as he lowered his arm _she has a long trip to make anyways so I should just let her sleep . . ._

As he was debating what was the right or wrong thing to do, to Minato's horror, Misaki gasped as she saw the sight of her best friend with Minato. She had been looking for Kushina all day and figured she would be with Minato, but not like _this. . ._ Her cheeks turned red at the thought of what they had been doing. She turned around to leave

"Ah wait!" Minato said while sitting up, causing Kushina's head to fall rather hard to the ground

"Ow" Kushina moaned not fully awake

"I'd rather not" Misaki said as she took another step back "Kushina we leave in an hour, meet us by the village gates when. . . you're done. . ."

Misaki's tone was full of implications, and she quickly ran away before Minato could explain the situation to her. He hung his head and sighed loud enough for Kushina to hear. Kushina sat up slowly holding her head that was throbbing and looked at him curiously

"What was that all about?" she asked, referring to Misaki "Why'd she rush off?"

"She misunderstood. . ." Minato murmured his cheeks red. Kushina debated about pressing for more information but decided to drop it. She only had an hour left in Konoha and she didn't want to waste any time.

"Okay I only have an hour left here, so lets do something fun" Kushina said while standing up. Minato reached for his stuff but Kushina shook her head.

"You'll only end up getting wet again" she said smiling widely "I'm going to teach you how to walk on water"

"Really?" Minato asked feeling excited. He'd probably the first out of his friends to learn how to walk on water, she nodded once and shrugged.

"You have to learn sometime, but you probably won't get it before I leave" she said, sighing at the thought of leaving

"I bet you I will" he said confidently. Kushina just smiled and rolled her eyes

"Sure you will" she said sarcastically. He was clearly underestimating the difficulty of walking on a moving surface. She explained to him how to do it and showed him a few times.

She sat back on the edge of the lake, dipping her feet into the water. She watched as Minato took a few steps in and collapsed like he had the first time and each time he did it never failed to amuse her at how difficult this was for him.

After he fell in the water once again, she stood up walked out across the lake over to him and grabbed his hand. She snickered quietly and pulled him to his feet on the surface of the water while holding both of his hands.

"Try one more time" she said smiling at him. The blond frowned but did as he asked. He took a step and she moved with him. They walked about ten feet before Kushina let go of his hands. He immediately fell into the water and she laughed.

"That's weird" she said with a shrug "I guess I better get going though. . . I'll see you as soon as I can, okay?"

"It's time already" he complained while looking up at the sky; the sun was already setting. Their hour was up. "Bye, Kushina. . . Oh wait!"

He said excitedly as he swam back to where his stuff was. He pulled out a small box that had a ribbon on it and tossed it to her. "It's your going away present" he explained while scratching the back of his head.

"Oh" she said as she tried to undo the bow. It wasn't working out so she dashed over to the shore and picked up a kunai to cut it. She pulled of the lid and inside was a hair clip.

"It's to keep your hair out of your face" he said while pulling himself out of the water. She smiled at him brightly and he smiled in response.

"Thanks" she said. She put it on and then sighed; it was time to go "I have to go now. . . bye Minato"

"Bye Kushina" he grumbled his good mood evaporating quickly. He watched as she put her baggy t-shirt on and gathered up her stuff without a word. It looked like neither of them were good with good byes.

He watched silently as she ran through the trees until she disappeared out of his sight

* * *

Roxie: Thank god i finished this! Took forever to write! PLEASE REVIEW AND FLAME!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, Happy new years, yah i know it's kinda random to post so soon but i really like posting on holidays and events! I wrote this really quickly so i think it came out bad but please review and flame please anyways! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! -Roxie

* * *

_**Time skip**_

It had been about three years since Kushina had last seen Minato. No matter how hard she tried, she never seemed to be able to find any missions that took her more than a few miles from home.

She felt bad and wondered if Minato thought she was doing it purposely. The thought worried her and also pissed her off. Why hadn't _he _come to see _her?_ That was the _real _question on her mind.

She slammed the bathroom door with a little too much force. She felt frustrated for no reason at all, how she often felt when she thought about Minato. She shook her head and got back to work on convincing herself that she had never wanted him to come see her.

She sighed quietly, adjusting her volume for the indoors, before she undressed and stepped into the shower. The hot water worked its magic and calmed her down. A few minutes later she got out, wrapped a towel around herself and looked into the mirror.

A set of emerald green eyes stared back at her wearing the same look of curiosity as she had. She studied her face for a minute or two, smiling slightly at how much she had changed.

After she was done staring at herself, she got to work on drying her long red hair. It fell to about her back when she was finished. She frowned a little at that. She would have to cut it soon; it would get in the way during fights.

She stepped out of the bathroom and back out into the hallway. Her room was just two doors away and she shivered at the change of temperature. She quickly went into her room and changed into some combat clothes.

She wore combat clothes the majority of the time because of the war; she could be called away at any time and she might not have time to change. She checked her kunai and then threw a bag over her shoulder.

"Time for breakfast" her mother called loud enough for Kushina and her sister to hear. Kushina went downstairs and took a seat next to her sister who was already eating. Her mother joined them a few moments later and Kushina frowned at the empty seat at the head of the table.

Her father had passed away last year, out fighting rock ninja's who were raiding the village. Raids had been occurring regularly and in fact Kushina was out fighting at the same time her father had been killed.

The news really tore apart her mother and even affected her sister. Instead of collecting flowers, Kushina's sister now participated in the fights. Her sister wasn't very skilled but had managed to survive this long. Regardless Kushina's mother worried constantly over the two.

"Aren't you hungry?" Kushina's sister asked. Kushina glanced down at her plate and realized she hadn't taken a bite of it. She took several large mouthfuls, took a swig of her milk and stood back up.

"I got to go check to see if there are any missions" She looked to away from her mother who was frowning in disapproval and over to her sister "I'll check to see if they have any for you"

"Whatever" her sister replied while going back to eat her breakfast.

Kushina gave a wave goodbye and left the house. She went to center of the village where a mission's board was placed. Since she was now a jonin she could take on a team but she didn't like the idea of being responsible for other people's lives. Especially when she couldn't be certain of her own.

Kushina scanned the missions quickly and found nothing at her level. But there was a patrolling mission that seemed safe enough to tell her sister about. Instead of going straight home she decided to take a walk around

She wove through the familiar shops and bars. There were always sailors getting drunk after long trips at sea. The village hidden in the whirlpool was a harbor that only its inhabitants knew how to navigate.

That was the main reason why the village hidden in the rock wanted it. If the rock ninja had whirlpool they could launch raids by sea, receive supplies, and limit exporting to their enemies.

Kushina sighed at the unpleasant turn that her thoughts had took, she tried to think of something happier but the only thing that came to mind was Minato's stupid smiling face.

She frowned and picked up her pace.

She had somehow managed to walk in a complete circle and had ended up in front of her house. She walked inside told her sister about the patrolling mission and went upstairs to lay down.

A few seconds later the house next door blew up

* * *

Minato yawned lazily as he walked towards the training grounds to go meet up with his team. Even though he was only fifteen, he had become a jonin and therefore he had the option to be a sensei to three genin.

He walked towards the three stumps where he did a majority of his own training and sighed. Obito was late again. Rin, the medic nin on the team, was chattering to Kakashi who, like always, seemed to be annoyed by something.

"Hey" Minato said as he walked up. He earned a small smile from Rin and a frown of disapproval from Kakashi.

"Your three minutes late, in a battle, those three minutes could mean life or death" Kakashi said as he crossed his arms. Minato sighed and flinched a little at Kakashi's attitude.

_Does he have the entire rule book memorized?_ Minato thought warily before apologizing. Kakashi gave another curt nod and went back to frowning. Right about then Obito, a young Uchiha, arrived.

"Your late" Kakashi said flatly. Obito glared at him before turning to Minato to give an excuse he made while on the way there.

"You see I'm late because, on my way hear an old lady was carrying a bunch of heavy boxes and I decided to give her a helping hand and carry them for her"

Minato frowned and rolled his eyes at this ludicrous statement. For an eleven year old Obito sure lacked imagination.

"Alright, now that everyone's here let me tell you about our mission" Minato began, but a man in an ANBU mask showed up next to him.

"Whatever mission you had has been postponed. You are to go to the village hidden in the whirlpool and search for survivors. Leave immediately"

Then the man disappeared leaving Minato panicked. _Survivors? Were they attacked?! _He immediately thought of Kushina, boyish and happy, smiling and alive and then pictured her cold and dead.

"Let's go" he said in a strained voice. His students turned to look at him in surprise before nodding their heads and following him to the outskirts of the village. They were curious as of why looking for survivors caused their sensei so much anxiousness.

The trip to whirlpool took around six and a half hours on average. Minato could have gotten there faster with his recently acquired speed but he had to slow down enough that his students could keep pace.

He knew that this annoyed Kakashi but he couldn't care less right now. Kushina was his only thought. By the sounds of it Whirlpool had been destroyed, or at least severely damaged. Which meant the death toll was probably high, especially if the were searching for survivors.

_Kushina could be one of those _Minato flinched at the thought _she has to be alive, there's no way she'd die _

Despite his attempts to keep his thoughts optimistic he couldn't help but realize the horrible truth; that she _was _most likely dead

"Sensei, slow down!" called Rin. Minato turned his head to look back at her, realizing that he had unconsciously sped up in his rush. His students were far behind and he immediately dropped his pace to something more reasonable.

After a few more hours of traveling they finally reached a large body of water, which meant they were already there or very close. Minato looked down at the water before looking away in disgust.

The water was tinted with ashes, cinders, blood and anything else that might come from explosions. There was smoke off in the distance and if he listened hard enough he could hear the shouts of people.

The air was heavy with a fog that seemed to suffocate them and mixed in with the smoke it was unbearable. Obito coughed a few times to try to clear his throat but even that didn't help.

Minato ripped his sleeve and tied it around his mouth and motioned for his students to do the same. He didn't need them dying from fumes. Minato walked through what resembles village gates and into the whirlpool village.

_If you can even call it that _he thought in horror

Everywhere you looked there was destruction. Rin gasped quietly at the sight. Things that used to be buildings were now nothing more than rubble. There were houses that were completely caved in.

And the suffocating fog was even worse here. The village smelled of death and it had it's own weight that weighed down on Minato's team. Rin felt nauseous, Obito felt scared, and even Kakashi felt a little overwhelmed.

Minato just felt desperation. Desperation to find Kushina's body (at this point he had given up all hope that she was alive) and bury her. It was the only thing he could think of to do.

He noticed an area where most of the Konoha had gathered. It was a medical tent, people were being brought in to be treated and out to be buried. Minato walked up to Tsunade, who was in charge of the medics, and asked what his team should do.

"Well you can have your students fetch water and other supplies" Tsunade said while working over the body of a patient "They can do odd jobs. Have them go find someone to help; it shouldn't be too hard"

Minato nodded and gave their students their instructions. Rin went off to help the medics, Obito went to get clean water, and Kakashi helped remove the dead from the tent.

"And you can go look for survivors" Tsunade said after pronouncing her patient healed "I think Jiraiya and Orochimaru are in charge. Go talk to them and get to work"

"Alright" he said as he walked out of the tent. He was glad to leave, the place had reeked of blood, and understandably so. He walked farther into the village until he spotted his sensei's long white hair.

"Sensei" he called. Jiraiya turned around, surprised to see Minato "What can I do to help?"

"Well. . ." Jiraiya said while scratching the back of his head "Just sort through the rubble until you find someone who is alive. No matter how bad their condition is you have to take them to the medical tent"

"Okay" Minato said as he walked over to a near by house and began to search for bodies. He found three, none were alive, all of the corpses made him feel sick. He repeated this for hours.

Occasionally he would find a live body, but the majority of the time he found corpses. For every living person he found her found six corpses. A horrible ratio but at least he was helping some what.

As he walked around the village he couldn't help but wonder; _what had happened?_ He had tried asking the people who were working with him but they only provided vague answers like "The Rock invaded them" and "They were caught completely of guard"

None of those answers helped him at all. He sat down on so rock (or maybe it was part of some fallen building or house- he couldn't tell) and pulled out a canteen. After a few swigs from it he stood up to get back to work.

He heard some calls a few houses down, indicating that they had found someone who was alive. Minato decided he would help out and walked over. They were moving some rubble of the person.

He noticed that lying a few feet away were to other bodies. A woman and possibly her daughter. He mourned for them for a few seconds before turning back to help the others.

"I think she's still breathing" said one man who was trying to clear away some more rocks "But she's not doing to well"

So it's a girl Minato thought. He thought of Kushina again, lifeless and cringed. There were people blocking his view so he couldn't really see what was going on. He had an urge to push through everyone but decided it would be best to be patient.

It didn't really matter much to him anyways. He glanced over at the bodies again and flinched. He was sure it had meant something to _them. _

"Hey we've got her out" one of the men called. He recognized Minato, the yellow flash, and decided to ask him to take her back "She's bleeding a lot, can you take her back Minato-san?"

"Sure" Minato answered as he weaved through bodies to get to him. When he reached for the girl he froze in shock. A girl with red hair matted down to her face and covered in debris lay unconscious in the other man's arms.

Her breathing was slow and labored and she was bloodied but she was definitely alive. He swallowed once before taking her in his arms and running off towards the medical tent. He didn't want to hope, but he couldn't help but smile down at the girl.

_Kushina_

* * *

Roxie: Thank god i finished this! I wrote this in like 3 hours so i know it sucks but PLEASE REVIEW AND FLAME!!!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey sorry it took so long to update! but after new years i had finals, and after finals i started all new classes, and my brother's birthday, ect. and not to mention that i couldn't write for shit this past week. I had to re edit this about 3 times before i finally got it decent! Thank you to everyone who review and next update will be by valentines day or sooner. And did you know that "laying" isn't a word? REVIEW AND FLAME PLEASE! -Roxie

* * *

**_Reunions_**

Minato weaved through the throng of people that were packed into the center of the leaf village. He was currently trying to work his way to his house, but it seemed like _everyone _was out today.

It was a nice day, the sun was shining, birds were out, everything but the people of the village seemed happy.

Everyone had been out and about, ever since the Whirlpool village had been destroyed. Refugees came in constantly and the hospital was jam packed. All available ninja, from chunin to jonin were working to recover bodies.

Minato had just returned from the Whirlpool bringing a group of refugees with him. The blond wrote down their names and directed them to the apartments that the other refugees were staying at.

Minato was tired; he had been doing this for about two weeks straight. He had probably only spent thirty minutes in his own home the past week. That was more his fault than anything. In his free time (which was rare and hard to come by) he would visit Kushina.

He saw her as often as he could, but it never seemed to be enough for him. It had been a long two years without his best friend, and he was still in shock that she had even survived the attack on Whirlpool.

* * *

Kushina had been comatose for thirteen days. She tossed and turned a lot in her sleep but to Minato's disappointment she never woke up. He wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing.

As much as he wanted to talk to her, to see her face, he knew that when she woke up he would have to be the one to explain what had happened. He didn't know how he could bare to tell her the news. What could he say?

"Hey Kushina! Glad you woke up, by the way your village was destroyed, your family is dead, and you currently have no home, no belongings, and are going to be living in a foreign village"

He was sure she would take that well.

He sighed in exasperation as he finally opened the door to his house. His walked inside, peeled of his shirt and stepped into the bathroom. He finished undressing and then stepped into the shower.

It was about three in the afternoon when Kushina opened her eyes. At first Kushina was dazed by all the white; sterile white walls, the sterile white floor, the sterile sheets and curtains.

_Am I dead? _She thought silently while looking a few seconds she decided she was alive, but where was she? She assumed she was in a hospital but where? She obviously wasn't in whirlpool.

She had no clue where she was and, last time she checked, her house was falling in around her. She sat up and threw the sheets off her while swinging her legs over the edge of the bed so she could stand.

Her body screamed in protest at her sudden movements but she didn't care. She was too concerned about escaping the hospital. She wasn't in whirlpool which could mean only two things.

She was either in an ally village for treatment (for whatever reasons, she didn't know) or she was in an enemy village, being healed so they could torture her adequately, until she gave them what they wanted.

The red head frowned while she deliberated for a second. After a minute she had come to the conclusion that she would have to leave. Even if she _was _in an ally village she didn't want to be trapped in a hospital for weeks on end.

She was in a white t-shirt, black shorts and had no shoes, and even though it wasn't the best travel gear (especially since she was bare foot) she decided that it would have to do. She darted to the window and jumped out of it, landing nimbly on her feet.

Her whole body was racked with pain from the simple motion but she somehow forced herself to keep moving. She looked around at her surroundings and felt somewhat relieved; she was in Konoha.

* * *

Tsunade walked down the hall with a stretcher in tow, yet another casualty that she would have to operate on. She motioned for the nurses to get ready, and then set about gathering the tools that she would need.

Unlike most operations she did, this one wasn't critical; just an operation to help ease the patient's suffering. Compared to what she had seen over the last couple of days an amputated arm wasn't a big deal.

As she was reaching for a scalpel a nurse ran down the hall

"Tsunade-sama" the nurse said, slightly out of breath "The patient from B-52 has gone missing, we can't find her anywhere!"

"What do you mean _missing_" Tsunade snapped, she was going to continue but instead took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down a little. "I don't have _time _for this! I don't care how you do it but find her and bring her back."

"Okay" said the nurse as she ran back down the hall. Tsunade sighed as she tried to continued getting ready, praying that nothing else would interrupt the operation. She was trying to remember who the patient was in B-52.

Suddenly it came to her; Kushina Uzumaki, best friend(?) of Minato, Jiraiya's student. She turned to a medic nin who didn't appear to be doing anything.

"Go and tell Minato Namikaze that Kushina Uzumaki has gone missing, ask him to find her as a favor for me"

The medic gave a quick nod and silently disappeared. Tsunade shook her head and tried, for what she hoped was the last time, to once again to gather the tools needed for the operation

* * *

Minato was laying on his bed trying to sleep, before he went to the hospital. He hadn't meant to fall asleep but as soon as he sat down on the bed the battle was already lost. A faint knocking on his door stirred him from his sleeping stupor, and he groggily got up to open the door.

There was a medic nin standing in front of him, looking particularly exasperated and tired. He sighed once and frowned at Minato in what seemed like annoyance.

"Kushina Uzumaki has gone missing from the hospital, and Tsunade-sama wants you to go look for her"

Alarm shot through Minato, how had she gone _missing_?! She was in a freaking hospital for cripes sake! He shook his head in frustration before answering.

"How do you _lose _a patient" he asked, letting anger seep into his voice. Really! How could the hospital staff be so irresponsible?!

"I don't know and frankly I don't care" snapped the medic nin "We're overworked as it is and we have so many people to take care of, its no surprise that your girlfriend got lost"

Before Minato could say another word the medic nin left, leaving Minato slightly flustered and embarrassed. He had overreacted a little but the idea of Kushina lost and wandering the streets by herself was unsettling to him.

"She's not my girlfriend" he mumbled quietly five minutes later. "She's just a close friend"

He shook his head once to clear his thoughts and then immediately left in search of her. The only problem was that he didn't know where she would go, especially because if she was lost, then she wouldn't know her destination either. He frowned and ran a hand through his hair.

_Perfect, just perfect_

_

* * *

  
_

Kushina was walking the streets with no idea where she was going. She had absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. She was trying to reach the village gates but somehow she had ended up in a slummier part of town.

She wasn't scared; it wasn't like she hadn't dealed with drunks before, but she didn't like being unarmed and so unaware of where she was going. The red head found herself wishing that she had paid better attention when Minato had showed her the village two years ago.

She was tired and disoriented and she was wishing she hadn't left the hospital after all. At least there she could've had something to eat and drink. _Another problem _she thought with a sigh. She didn't have a single penny on her.

In the end she ended up wandering to the academy. She walked past the building while looking at it with curiosity; she remembered this place. She walked a little farther and ended up a lake.

Minato was trying to search every street as thoroughly as possible but it was taking longer than he had wanted. There were so many people out! He hoped he hadn't overlooked her, but with her red hair she should've stood out.

It had been hours since she had gone missing and he only managed to search about half the village. He had no clue where she could've gone, especially since she was lost.

_She's probably just wandering around with no clue of where she's going _he thought with annoyance _why the hell did she ever leave the freaking hospital?!_

He decided to check around water. She _was_ from a village that had specialized in water, she'd probably go there if she had any idea _where _she was going. He turned around and raced towards any body of water he could think of.

There were only three lakes around Konoha. The only place left was the lake closest to the academy. He had wanted to avoid going there, because that had been the last place he saw Kushina (before now) it always had depressed him to go there because it reminded him of her.

It made him sad to think of the time she had left, so he avoided the place when he could. He wished she was at one of the other lakes instead

_But _no _that would be to _easy _for Kushina _he thought with a frown. She definitely made his life more difficult. A few seconds later he stepped out into the clearing where the lake was.

Kushina was laying on the ground with her face towards the sky, her eyes were closed and, judging by the pile of bandages next to her she had unwrapped her bandages. At first he was gripped with panic with a worst case scenario.

But as he walked over to stand above her, she suddenly opened her eyes. Her vibrant emerald eyes met his crystal blue ones and suddenly it was like she had never left. But there were definite differences.

If he thought she was beautiful while she was sleeping, then he might as well have been blind. Without her bandages he couldn't find a flaw on her face and her eyes seemed to make her whole body look more alive.

Kushina could have said the same. Minato was different from how she remembered. They used to be the same height but she was sure that if she was standing he would tower over her. And he seemed much more well built, like he'd been training for hours nonstop since she had left.

_He probably has _she thought with an amused smile

They stared at each other for a moment in an awkward silence. Kushina was still deciding whether or not it was really him and Minato was looking for something to say. But as he had predicted he didn't know _what_ to say.

He was happy he found her, happier that she was awake, but when was he supposed to tell her about her village? How would he even bring it up? Kushina noticed his sudden anxiety and looked up at him.

"Minato" Kushina asked trying to figure out what was wrong with him "Is that you?"

Minato looked down at her to nod and say "yes" but when their eyes met he had to take a minute before answering

"Yeah. . ." he said quietly

"It's been so long!" she said while getting to her feet. To his surprise she stepped towards him and hugged him. He felt his face turn red at their sudden contact and as she pulled away he felt an urge to pull her back.

He dropped his hands though, and let her put a more comfortable distance between them. She smiled at him brightly for a minute but then her lips pulled down into a frown.

"Why exactly am I here? I mean, it's nice to see you and all but. . ." she trailed off, she glanced down at the pile of bandages "Why was I even in the hospital _here?_ We have one back in Whirlpool so. . ."

Minato remained silent, feeling torn. It would be so easy to lie to her, and let someone else break the news. But as he looked into her bright, curious eyes he knew _he _had to tell her.

"What do you remember?" he asked, trying to keep his voice casual. He failed, Kushina was able to detect the strain in his voice. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she answered in a cautious tone.

"I was in my room and the house started to collapse. That's all I remember."

". . ." Minato sighed, that was less than he had hoped; but at least she wouldn't have any nightmares from what had happened. He took a deep breath before he spoke again, choosing his words as best as he could.

"I have something to tell you Kushina . . ."

* * *

Roxie: thank you for reviewing last chapter! Please review and flame again this chapter, i really appreciate it!


	7. Chapter 7

Happy Valentine's Day! I am so sick right now that I haven't even eaten anything over the past two days! I hope everyone is having a better day than i am, but good news; This chapter (because narutoking said that he had hoped it would be longer) is twice as long as the others! Well idk when i'll next update, so when u review tell me how soon i should try to post the next chapter! REVIEW AND FLAME PLEASE!

* * *

**_Sorrow_**

It was dark in Kushina's new house. It was a decent apartment, kind of dirty, but that was her fault. There were boxes of clothes donated by villagers (which she hadn't bother to unpack), and on the kitchen counter there was even money. Food was already in the fridge and all the cabinets were full too.

But she hadn't really moved from her bed for the past three days.

Her life was over. It had to be. No one could survive after losing so much. She hugged her knees closer to her. Her red hair was down and it fell around her face. She sat there staring at the wall, mourning the lost of her past life.

There were so many things that she'd never get to do again. She'd never fight with her sister, get yelled at by her mother, never walk the hidden paths around whirlpool. She'd never even get to show Minato what the village _had _been like.

So many simple things that she had lost, but it had the weight to crush her. She bit her lip and laid her head against her knees, trying to calm herself down. But all she could think of is how she'd never be going home again.

_Because it's gone _she said while trying not to cry _and everyone that I loved is dead_

She didn't know if all her friends were dead, but they might as well be. She'd probably never see them again and if she did, there wouldn't be anything to say. The past would weigh to heavy on the conversation and she didn't want any reminders of whirlpool.

The head band that was tied around her forehead suddenly weighed too much. She reached behind her head and for the first time since she had gotten it, she took it off for reasons other than hygiene.

It slipped off her head without a sound and fell softly onto the bed. She started at the symbol for awhile; remembering how happy she had been when she first got it. Kushina stood up, grabbed the headband, and put it in her nightstand draw.

It was funny how doing this gave her a sense of closure. She smiled sadly as she closed the draw but then turned to all the boxes laying around. She walked over and opened one and sighed.

Whoever had donated clothes to her, had given her a lot of dresses which, even though they were pretty, definitely couldn't be worn on a mission. She went to her closet grabbed as many hangers as she could carry and started hanging them up.

After that she repeated the process with the other boxes, putting any pants, shorts, t-shirts or tank tops into her dresser for clothes to be worn on missions. She cringed a little at having to be a ninja for Konoha. It felt like she was betraying her family and her village.

She felt another wave of sadness about to overtake her so she quickly looked around the room to look for something else to do. Sadly there didn't seem like there was anything else to do.

The villagers of Konoha had been very generous with the refugees. She had a nice home, a full wardrobe, money to spend, and a full fridge. They weren't even making her pay rent until 3 months _after _she started doing missions.

_What's with the people here? _She thought while biting her lip again. She felt bad for free loading off them but she really didn't have much of a choice. She cringed as she remembered the last time she had seen Minato.

Now _that _had been embarrassing.

She had actually _cried _in front of him, which was horrible in so many ways that she couldn't even begin to explain. He had been great about it, he had even held her while she cried.

She blushed lightly and tried to focus on other, less embarrassing thoughts, but her mind kept wandering back to how safe she had felt in Minato's strong arms. She felt guilty about even being in such a situation, while she should still be mourning all that she had lost, but she couldn't help what she felt.

The redhead felt emotionally drained. She had flipped through so many emotions since she had woken up the other day at the hospital. Sad to neutral, neutral to embarrassed, embarrassed to some odd feeling she felt whenever she thought of Minato.

She wanted to see him, and redeem herself a little. Minato had stopped by a few times, but she had refused to see him. She didn't think that he'd be mad – he wasn't that kind of person – but she felt the need to apologize anyways.

So for the first time in three days she left her apartment. It was odd to be outside after so long indoors. The sun seemed too bright and she was momentarily blinded. As soon as her eyes adjusted she headed in what she believed was the way to Minato's house.

Actually, now that she thought about it, she had no idea where Minato lived at all. She had never seen his house, not even during his tour of the village and she didn't know her way around the village well enough to go find it for herself.

So she settled on just walking the streets, hoping that she would run into him. She had to admit that it wasn't a very good plan, but she was all for getting some food at that ramen place again. After wandering around for about an hour or so she finally managed to find the place.

_This village is too big _she thought with agitation _how can anyone find their way around?_

She walked in and sat down on a stool, placed an order and went back to daydreaming, she barely noticed when someone had sat down besides her. She inclined her head to look at him.

He looked kind of familiar; he was around her age so it was possible they took the chunin exams together, but she couldn't place a name to his face. He noticed her looking at him so he turned and flashed her his best smile

"Hey" was all he said. Kushina's cheeks turned a light pink, she could tell instantly that this guy was interested in her. Instead of shying away from the attention like she used to do she turned towards him and gave him a heartbreaking smile.

"Hey" she said while tossing her hair back a little. She knew she was over doing it but she didn't care. This was the most fun that she had had in days. It wasn't that she was really interested in him in anyway, but more that she was caught up in the risk of flirting with an unknown stranger.

Somehow he seemed to sense this and he kept up a light carefree conversation with her. She knew he was interested, and as far as he knew she was interested in him, which was all he needed to know. He didn't even bother asking for her name and she didn't ask for his.

Who really cared anyways?

* * *

Minato was walking through town with Jiraiya and currently wishing that he had stayed home instead. Jiraiya had a way of getting on Minato's nerves really fast whenever Kushina's name came up.

For some reason that Minato didn't understand, Jiraiya was under the impression that Kushina and him were dating secretly.

"For the _last_ time, we're not dating!" Minato cried in exasperation, this had been going on for about an hour now.

"_Sure _that's what you _say_, but I know the _truth_" Jiraiya said with a sly grin. He knew there was nothing going on between Minato and Kushina (right now) but he couldn't help teasing his student.

"Ugh!" Minato said as he slapped himself on the forehead. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Nope" Jiraiya said while grinning "I put your needs before anything else"

Minato groaned but gave no answer. A few seconds later he turned to his sensei to ask where he wanted to go for lunch.

"Hmmm. . . how about Ichiraku? I haven't been there in weeks"

"What?!" Minato said, surprised. In Minato's mind he couldn't imagine anyone staying away from Ichiraku's for more than a day. He shook his head in disappointment and Jiraiya just rolled his eyes and sighed; guessing Minato's thoughts.

"Let's go right no-" before Jiraiya finished his sentence a ninja in an ANBU mask showed up.

"Jiraiya-sama, the hokage would like to see you" the man said before disappearing. Minato sighed and muttered "go" and seconds later his sensei had left. Minato was getting pretty annoyed with the ANBU lately.

Since they were at war, the ANBU were showing up everywhere, all the time. Minato hadn't gone a day without being interrupted by them in someway. Minato walked the rest of the way to Ichiraku's feeling annoyed.

He walked in and to his great surprise, Kushina was there. She wasn't alone though; Takari, Minato's former teammate, was sitting next to her. Kushina was giving him a flirty smile and he was smiling back at her.

He said something to her, too low for Minato to hear, and she laughed quietly in turn. Before Minato's mind had caught up with his body, he had already ducked back out of the shop and rounded the corner.

He felt inexplicably angry with the two of them. He had been worrying over Kushina and trying to get her to leave her house for days and here she was on a _date_?! And with Takari no less!

Takari was a good ninja but he had a bad reputation when it came to relationships. Minato didn't want Kushina within a hundred feet of him. But he didn't move an inch; he didn't trust himself to go back yet.

He still felt angry enough to punch something, which surprised him, because he usually had a good grip on his emotions. He ran his hand through his hair a few times and paced agitatedly.

After a few more minutes he turned around to go back, when he rounded the corner he almost walked into Takari. At the sight of him Minato suddenly felt just as angry again. His first instinct was to punch him in the face but of course he didn't.

"Hey" Takari said "I was just about to go looking for you"

"Oh?" Minato said his tone sharper than usual, intended due to his unexplained anger.

"Yeah, I was talking to some girl a few minutes ago and she said she was looking for you" Takari said bitterly as he rolled his eyes. Obviously his time with Kushina had ended badly.

Minato instantly felt better and his anger seemed to evaporate. Obviously it hadn't been a date if he didn't even know her name. He felt a little ridiculous for getting so worked up. It's not like Kushina would go out with someone she barely knew anyways.

"Oh" Minato said, feigning innocence, as if he had never been angry. "Where?"

"Back at Ichiraku's I guess" he said giving Minato a dry look "She's not much fun, I wouldn't waste my time Minato"

"Thanks for the advice" Minato said as he walked away, a smile already on his lips "See you later Takari"

* * *

Kushina sat on her stool laughing with the owner of the store. She was in a great mood. That guy she had been flirting with apparently was a player, and was a little mad that he had been rejected. In fact he had caused quite a scene before he left.

She laughed out loud quietly

"What's so funny?"

Kushina stopped laughing and turned around in surprise, "Minato!" she said practically falling off the stool. He put a hand on her shoulder to steady her and she was surprised by the way the slight contact made her feel.

"Ah Minato!" The shop keeper said as he turned around "Do you want your usual?"

"Sure" Minato said with a laugh as he sat down next to Kushina.

"Do you want anything else" the man asked looking at Kushina. She smiled politely and told him that she would have what Minato was having. She saw Minato's look of worry at how much she was going to eat; apparently he hadn't forgotten the last time she had come here.

"Don't worry" she said with a grin as she pulled out the bag of money "I can pay for myself"

He snickered but decided against saying anything that would provoke her. No matter how normal she was acting, she _had_ been through a lot in the last couple of weeks. She noticed his worried stare and quickly turned away so he couldn't guess at how sad she actually was feeling.

She was happier pretending that everything was okay.

As they waited for their food they fell into a slightly awkward silence. Neither of them really had much to say. Minato wanted to ask what she had been doing for the past two years but he didn't want to bring up any painful memories. It was a question that would have to wait for a better time.

Luckily for him she brought the subject up

"What have you been doing while I wasn't here? You couldn't have just spent the past two years sitting around. . . I hope. . ." she trailed off with a smirk. He scowled in mock anger before flicking her gently on the forehead.

"Of course not" he said with a smile "I've actually have my own ninja team now"

"Really?" she asked in surprise. In whirlpool you had to be at least eighteen before you took the responsibility of having your own team "Aren't you a little young? You're students probably are three or four years younger than you at the most"

"Yeah. . ." Minato said while scratching the back of his head "But since the war's going on, and there aren't enough experienced jonin that can be spared to raise a team, so I got stuck with them instead"

"Because you're a jonin of course" she said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at her tone "Well I _was _a jonin too, but I'm not sure if I still technically am. . ."

She trailed off and Minato let the conversation drop. It was wandering towards a very dangerous subject. Kushina did seem relatively okay, but he didn't want to push his luck and pry.

"So. . ." Kushina began not sure how to finish, she was looking for a better topic and suddenly she found one "How come you never wrote me?"

_"Huh?"_ was the first word that popped into Minato's mind. He _had _written her, a _lot._ He had sent at least two dozen letters, over the first year, but when she never wrote _him _back, he had eventually stopped writing.

"_Me _not write _You?_" Minato asked, incredulous "Try the other way around, I sent you lots of letters"

"No" Kushina said, her eyes narrowing; he definitely wasn't going to turn this around on her. She had waited for two years and hadn't gotten anything, so she didn't wanted hear this crap.

"Yeah, I sent you letters through summons" Minato explained, referring to the toads he had learned to summon while training with Jiraiya. After signing his name in blood and working at it for months he now had control over _most _the frogs he could summon. Gamabunta was a very difficult story.

"What animal?" she asked arching an eyebrow. She could name about three summons that wouldn't be able to get to whirlpool, and she was growing suspicious that Minato had tried to use one of them.

"Toads" he said blankly, as he tried to figure out what could be the problem with that. Kushina rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You're an idiot, aren't you?" Kushina said with a laugh "Do you have any idea what whirlpool was surrounded by?"

"Water?" Minato said while raising an eyebrow at her obvious question.

"Not just 'water' you idiot, salt water."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" Minato asked, still feeling lost. Kushina laughed again and rolled her eyes.

"Toads are freshwater animals, I can guarantee you that none of your summons would cross the saltwater surrounding the village"

Minato frowned at this. What she was saying sounded about right, but he hadn't really doubted his summons ability to deal with a little discomfort.

"Oh" was all he was able to say lamely, she smiled and shoved him playfully

"You're so stupid Minato" she said jokingly. She tilted her head slightly and her eyes met his. All of a sudden Minato was aware of how close she was. They were turned each other, and somehow throughout the course of the conversation they had ended leaning towards each other.

Minato could feel his cheeks turn red at their physical closeness and couldn't say he wasn't glad when the man who ran the place brought over the two dishes of ramen. Minato quickly looked down at his food and began eating; the conversation effectively ended.

They ate in silence, but it wasn't awkward. While they ate Minato kept stealing glances at Kushina.

Her red hair was down and it fell down her back like a crimson waterfall. Her eyes were the same amazing, vibrant green that they usually were but against her pale skin, all her features stood out in sharp contrast.

Her lips were a light pink, and even while eating he thought she had a small smile on her lips and that lit up her face even more. She seemed so delicate and breakable it was hard to believe that she was a kunoichi.

"Are you full?" Kushina asked, startling him. He flushed a light pink for some reason he couldn't explain. He was watching her mouth form the syllables but he hadn't really comprehended the words.

He blinked trying to pull his eyes away from her. He hadn't even realized that he had stopped eating. He shook his head and began eating again. She watched him curiously for a minute before returning back to her ramen.

Minato's face was still pink, but she hadn't noticed anything weird. She giggled quietly to herself, and the sound drew his eyes back to her face. Her eyes were full of warmth and her lips curled into an easy smile.

He noticed that in her hair she was wearing the clip he had given to her as a going away present. He smiled to himself discretly, oddly content with the fact that she was wearing something that connected her to him.

"That was good" Kushina said with a smile, after handing the man some money for the food. She stood up and Minato of course followed. "I'm definitely coming back tomorrow"

Minato smiled at her and nodded in consent. That meant that he would be coming back tomorrow too. She hadn't really invited him, and she hadn't mentioned a time, but he was definitely going to find a way to come at the same time.

_I think I'm getting a little obsessive. . ._he thought, frowning a little. He _had _been focusing a _lot _on Kushina lately. He shot a quick glance at her, she was walking next to him, humming an odd song.

She noticed his stare and smiled "It's an old song my mother used to sing"

"Oh. . ." was all he said, trying to let the topic drop.

"It's okay to talk about them. . ." she murmured "I don't want to pretend they never existed. . . I _want_ to rememberthem. . ."

Minato remained silent though, not sure of what to say. He wasn't good with dealing with emotions head on. Kushina was smiling a sad smile and tilting her head to the sky.

It was dark out now and the first couple of stars were just coming out. He had been with her for a few hours he thought contentedly. And before he knew it, they were standing in front of her apartment.

"See you later Minato" she said as she opened the door, that easy smile back on her lips. And all too soon she was gone from his sight and he felt a sense of loss. He stared at the door for a second before turning to walk back to his house.

It was a short distance from Kushina's apartment, a fact that she probably didn't know herself, but instead of using his normal speed to get there in seconds, he chose to walk like everyone else.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and gazed up at the stars, thinking about whether he should try to meet up with Kushina the next day. The blond knew what he _wanted_ to do, but he had this odd feeling that he should try to put a little distance between the two, for _his _sake.

But the more he thought of Kushina, the harder it was to picture himself farther away from her. He already felt a need to get closer to her; he didn't think he could stand any more distance between them.

He felt embarrassed and silly, but it was true. He _needed _to be around _her._ He opened the door to his house, and wasn't surprised to find it empty. His mother did her best, but she was never around. It was like he was living by himself most of the time.

He went straight to his room and laid on his bed. Almost immediately his mind went back to Kushina. She was so beautiful now. He couldn't stop staring at her. Everything about her just seemed so –

The blond shook his head trying to get her out of his head. She was his _friend_. And in retrospect, no matter how close they were he had only knew her for about two years. He sighed in frustration and closed his eyes.

Moments later he fell asleep

_He and Kushina were laying side by side on the banks of the lake. It was a nice day out, and everything was quiet. They weren't talking; just laying there, with the sun beating down on them, even in the seclusion of the trees._

_Kushina had her eyes closed and her hair was fanned out underneath her. She was humming that odd song again and seemed peaceful. Minato was sitting up and staring at her in wonder and fascination. He was vaguely sure that this was a dream. But it seemed so real. . ._

_He reached out hesitantly to touch her, to find out if he was awake or not. As he touched her arm, she opened her eyes suddenly, her vibrant green eyes meeting his startled blue ones._

_He blushed and pulled his hand back and looked away; trying to hide his deep embarrassment. But Kushina seemed unaffected. She sat up slowly and for some reason this simple motion startled Minato._

_He didn't know why he was so jumpy; but something seemed off, like she was liable to attack him any minute. She smiled and laughed quietly as if she could guess his thoughts._

_Dream or no dream, she was being unusually weird._

_He turned to face her again and was surprised at how close they were. Their faces were inches apart and he immediately looked away awkwardly. Kushina smiled as she placed her hands on either side of Minato's face, turning his face back towards her own_

_"K-Kushina" he stuttered feeling embarrassed again "What are you doin –"_

_And suddenly she pressed her lips softly against his_

Minato woke up with a start, breathing heavy. His face flushed and startled. That was the first night he dreamed of Kushina

* * *

Roxie: Thanks for reading PLEASE REVIEW AND FLAME and let me know when to update next :)


	8. Chapter 8

Wow i haven't updated in forever. I have a good excuse though! I got depressed, fell in love with an emo boy (while i am more of a prep despite my interests) my two best friends agreed not to be friends with each other, i got asked out by a creepy 18 year old, sexually harassed by a junoir and to top it all off i joined the tennis team and my schools theater workshop (we put on rent) which was amazing, but all added up to me having a very busy life. And i go on a band trip in a week so i have to go shopping for dresses for the competition and the cruise! Thanks for waiting please review and flame - Roxie

* * *

_**Romance**_

Kushina sat on the banks of the lake near the academy alone. Minato had been on a mission for two weeks and she had been bored out of her mind. She sighed heavily and drew her knees up to her chest.

It wasn't that she didn't have other friends to hang out with. She had found that the friendships with the other refugees that she had viewed as "Awkward" weren't so bad. But no matter how much she went out she still felt lonely.

Her old and new friends weren't as personable as Minato was. They couldn't make her laugh or smile like he could and she couldn't talk to them for hours on end without running out of things to say.

She wished he would hurry up and get back.

While he had been away she had actually went to the hokage and asked to be a Konoha ninja. The hokage had agreed and she had a new headband that now hung around her neck, but she was mad that she hadn't gotten to share the experience with Minato.

She sighed heavily again. It wasn't like she would've been able to share it with him anyways. He had been avoiding her lately, before he went on his mission. And whenever she did manage to have a conversation with him it was always short and awkward.

He couldn't look at her without averting his eyes immediately and she was beginning to wonder if he was mad at her for something. She was going to ask him about it, but as she was about to he had been called away to the hokage's mansion and then sent on that stupid mission.

She sighed for the third time in five minutes. Yet another reason to want him to come back.

* * *

Minato was currently on his way back from the village hidden in the sand. Him and Jiraiya, along with Takari, had been sent to Sand to negotiate a peace treaty between the two villages.

Things hadn't gone well.

The Sand village was confident in their ability to survive without aid from Konoha, so they had refused to make a peace treaty initially. Apparently they had some sort of tailed beast to fight for them and they were even considering starting a war with Konoha.

Needless to say it had been a long two weeks, and after eleven days of sweet talking their hokage, a flimsy peace treaty was eventually signed. Just the memory of the past two weeks made Minato want to smash his head against a rock, but the idea of returning back to Konoha was just as bad.

Ever since that stupid dream of his he couldn't stand to be around Kushina. Every time he looked at her he remembered his dream and felt embarrassed and awkward. She was blissfully unaware of how chaotic his feelings were getting.

He _wanted _to be around her, he _needed _to see her, and these feelings scared him. He wanted to go back to feeling indifferent towards her, but he knew that was impossible. Just thinking of her made his face turn red.

Jiraiya, who was walking next to him noticed his flushed face and smiled. He bent down to Minato and whispered in his ear "How are things going with Kushina?" and had the satisfaction of watching Minato's face turn a shade darker.

"W-What are you talking about" the blond hissed back "Stop being so stupid!"

Jiraiya just laughed and Minato frowned, trying to pass of his embarrassment as anger. He felt like groaning but didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he kept quiet. His feelings towards Kushina were frustrating.

_I wonder what she's doing right now _he thought distractedly _I wonder if she misses me. . ._

Lately Minato had had a strong desire to monopolize her time, but this desire conflicted with his increasing awkwardness and nervousness around her. He had been happy to leave the village, but the more he thought of her, the more and more he wanted to return.

Even though it was just a dream he could remember it so vividly. It stuck with him. The idea of kissing her. . . of touching her lips and finding out if they were as soft as they seemed. . . He shook his head to clear his thoughts; this wasn't a good topic to linger on.

But there seemed no way to think of anything else.

And after two more days of thinking about her and his feelings he had come to a conclusion; he loved her. More than "just a friend" would. She was constantly in his thoughts, made him smile like no one else could, and when he was with her he felt at peace and when she wasn't he felt anxious.

This revelation lightened him and he wanted to get back to Konoha as soon as possible. After one more painstakingly long day of traveling they finally arrived at the village gates.

The first thing he did after saying goodbye to his team was look for Kushina's red hair; she usually tended to stick out in crowds whether she wanted to or not.

As he was mindlessly searching the streets for her a new thought occurred to him. Sure he loved her, but what if _she _didn't love _him._ All of a sudden the feeling of weightlessness disappeared.

He _had _been avoiding her lately (because of that stupid dream of his) and he was sure, knowing Kushina's temperament, that she would be offended.

_First things first _he thought while frowning in annoyance _I have to find her and apologize. I'll do something about my. . . attraction later_

He decided to check at the lake. He always ran into her there, or he literally always seemed to run into her. Not one to disappoint, Kushina was sprawled out by the lake, just like she had been his dream.

He stared at her for a moment, before approaching her silently. He sat down next to her and the sound startled her, she sat up with a start; her hand flying to a kunai. He grabbed her hand before she attempted to stab him. And watched with some amusement as she realized it was him.

Her eyes widened slightly and he couldn't help but smile at her bewildered face. Kushina wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not. Hell, she could even be dreaming, that seemed more likely than the idea that Minato was actually back.

* * *

"Minato!" she exclaimed as she hugged him, effectively knocking them both onto their backs.

"Hey" he said, his voice oddly sedate even though he was startled by her sudden affection.

_So much for being mad at him _Kushina thought with a wary smile. She was just happy that he was back, finally, after three _weeks_ of missing him. He smiled at her and she smiled back feeling inexplicably happy.

"I've missed you" she exclaimed hugging him again. He chuckled softly in her ear before hugging her back. They were sprawled out on the ground with her lying on top of him grinning down at his exasperated face.

"Trust me, not as much as I've missed you" he whispered back in her ear. And suddenly she got the feeling that the mood had just changed. That somehow amongst their joking, the conversation had just swerved into something a bit more serious.

She didn't know why she suddenly felt nervous but she did. She felt alert; like something was about to happen but she didn't know what. She was so distracted that when Minato's hand cupped her face she didn't think much of it.

He leaned forward until their lips were a breath apart. Her heart was beating painfully in her chest and she felt very aware of her surroundings, of how close he was. Her eyes widened slightly and her cheeks turned a slight pink.

Minato stared at her face for a minute, once again thinking about how beautiful she was, and his eyes slid shut as he leaned forward. He heard her sharp intake of breath as he leaned forward to cover the distance and paused.

Minato was leaning towards her and she held her breath waiting for what he was going to do next. Her cheeks were red and her skin stung painlessly from where his hand had been seconds ago.

He was leaning back, moving away from her, before finally sliding her off of him. She felt. . . disappointed for some reason. Like she had wanted something more but ended up getting less.

Minato laughed uneasily seeming embarrassed and awkward. She was sure she looked the same. She was staring at the ground and for once let the silence stretch in between them.

She was trying to comprehend the last couple of minutes. What had happened? Had he tried to kiss her? She shook her head as if that would stop the thoughts from coming. Minato was her best friend. Nothing else.

There were boundaries that she hadn't even imagined crossing with Minato. And one of them was being in a relationship with him. He was her best friend and she didn't want to mess that up

Put she couldn't stop her mind from conjuring up images. She could picture it already, being his girlfriend. She couldn't picture them hand in hand walking down the street together but she could picture them spending all their free time together

_Like we do now_ she thought.

"Sorry" Minato said scratching the back of his head, a nervous habit of his. "I've been acting weird lately. . ."

"Lately?" Kushina said with a smile, making an effort to break the new found tension between them "Try since the day I met you"

Minato smiled, relieved that she didn't question him about what had happened earlier, because honestly he had nothing to say. He had no clue what he had been trying to accomplish.

After catching up with Kushina, and learning that she had become a Konoha ninja, they said their goodbyes and went there separate ways, each of them thinking about what had happened earlier in their own ways.

Kushina walked back to her apartment in a sort of days. Being unusually quiet as she wound threw the streets. She was . . . confused. That was the only way she could describe what she was feeling.

It seemed unreasonable to picture a world where Minato liked her in a romantic way and yet the idea kept resurfacing to her mind. Now that the idea had formed, it was all that could occupy her mind.

She was sure her cheeks were red by the time she got to her house. And she was sure the blush hadn't faded even after she had laid down to take a nap. Of course she couldn't sleep though. She was far to wound up for that.

She wanted to talk to Minato, to have him explain properly about what he was trying to do earlier. The only reason why she had dropped it earlier was because she had been scared of his answer.

Because it felt like if she said the wrong thing or asked the wrong questions, then the easy going nature of their friendship would be lost and once lost, she knew it could never be restored.

But that still didn't stop her from wanting to ask. She felt excited and scared, and silly, and a million different emotions at once. Most of all she felt like being with Minato. It was very confusing.

She had no clue that Minato was having similar thoughts. She had no clue that he had been trying to kiss her because that was all he had dreamed of for the past three weeks. She had no idea that he had been feeling this way about her for a month now.

* * *

And the days slowly passed like that. A whole year went by with Kushina and Minato hanging out when they could and ignoring the growing feelings they had towards each other. It was easier that way, was what they kept telling themselves. But of course it wasn't.

Kushina seemed to grow more and more beautiful with ever passing day, and Minato doubted he could go on like this much longer. He smiled at her when she looked up at him, pausing from devouring her ramen like she usually did.

As soon as their eyes met she could feel her heart skip a beat and she immediately refocused on eating her ramen with even more feeling than before. She could feel him watching her and the thought made her blush and feel self conscious.

They were out to lunch at Ichiraku's, for the third time this week. Initially Minato hadn't wanted to go, thinking it'd be better if her, once again, attempted to distance himself from Kushina.

Of course as soon as she asked he caved, for the third time this week.

He was always doing whatever she wanted. He couldn't say no to her. She'd just stare at him with pleading green eyes and whatever protest he had just evaporated.

"What are you looking at?" she asked between mouthfuls of ramen.

"You're really beautiful, did you know that?" he asked still lost in his thoughts. It was a second later he realized his mistake and quickly made to cover it up. But before he had a chance to say anything else he noticed that she was blushing and that she was smiling.

He decided to leave his earlier statement unedited. Kushina, who had just finished her ramen, abruptly got up and ran outside of the restaurant. She stuck her tongue out at him before walking down the street even further.

He just smiled as he watched her antics, at least until he realized that she had left him with _her _bill. She winked at him before rounding a corner. He frowned in annoyance and muttered as he gave Teuchi, the store owner, the money.

Of course it only took him seconds to find her again. She was walking down the street and when he suddenly appeared besides her, she didn't even jump. She had been expecting as much and she smiled sweetly at his annoyed expression.

"You owe me a small fortune" Minato muttered while glaring at her smiling face. She just smiled and shook her head, her eyes bright.

"Nope, that's what you get for embarrassing me" she said smiling, but he still noticed her cheeks turn a light pink "Don't ever call me beautiful in public ever again"

He rolled his eyes; _of course _how stupid of him to think that she'd accept a compliment without making him pay for it. She laughed and flicked his forehead protector before running of ahead; weaving through people.

He sighed and watched her go, knowing that he'd end up chasing her, like he always did. But he was tired of playing hide and seek with her. He was tired of pretending that he didn't have feelings for her because he obviously did.

* * *

Kushina was racing through the streets as fast as she could. Knowing that in seconds that Minato would catch her. She knew it was pointless to run, but that never stopped her. Still she was surprised when she made it all the way to the training grounds without being stopped.

She was running towards the logs, the random three logs that for some reason people decided to put in the middle of a training ground. Minato had tried to explain it to her before but she still didn't understand the purpose. Something to do with bells?

She was finally about to reach the logs, her unofficial goal, when she ran right into Minato, who literally appeared out of no where.

"Wha-" she said as he grabbed her, lifting her up and sitting her on top of one of the logs. "Damn, I thought I had finally won" she said with a smile and a laugh "I should've known better"

Minato was quiet in response. Instead of smiling or laughing good naturedly he took another step towards her, which brought their faces close together. Kushina kept smiling but she felt her heart beating hard at his sudden closeness.

Her cheeks were red by the time he had actually moved to stand between her legs, hands on each side of her face, pulling her face closer to his.

"Kushina" he murmured quietly, looking into her vibrant green eyes for approval, she said nothing only stared back into his blue eyes before sliding her eyes shut.

And then he covered the remaining distance, capturing her lips with his

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'll try to update soon! Please FLAME and REVIEW! -Roxie (btw minor time skip of a year happened in case you missed that)


	9. Chapter 9

Ha ha soooo. . . guess what? I didn't die or forget about this story! Ha ha it was just really hard for me to write a chapter about love and such because i have NEVER been in love. And considering the fact that I'm 15, this comes to no surprise xD Thanks for reviewing! I do read them all and it encourages me to write more! I'm going to update again in like 2 weeks i think (give or take) _**please review or flame!!!**_

**A Sudden Change**

To say that she was surprised was the understatement of the century. Sure, she had encouraged him by closing her eyes, but as a _joke. _To see how he would react. She had never thought that he would actually kiss her.

The kiss lasted only a second, barely long enough for him to brush his lips against hers, and barely long enough to even be considered a kiss, but she still flushed a brilliant shade of scarlet.

"M-M-Minato!" she stammered, for once speechless. She tried to form a sentence to follow his name, but words evaded her. Her mind was spinning and she felt dizzy. She felt like she was going to fall off the log any second.

"Kushina" he said in reply. He ran a hand through his blond hair and then stared at her. For some reason his eyes seemed a darker shade of blue than usual as he leaned towards her again.

When their lips touched this time, she couldn't deny that it was a kiss. She gasped quietly and tried to pull back, but he wound a hand in her hair and drew her closer. She was so confused, and nervous, and excited, and happy all at the same time that she didn't know what to feel.

_This is all happening too fast. . . _she thought dizzily as he pulled her closer, if that was even possible. He had waited so long to do this that he was finding that it was hard to control himself now

He had always been watching her, always loving her, but always from afar and in secret. But right now he couldn't care less. All he wanted to do was be closer to her still, but as he felt her stiffen again in surprise he pulled away hastily, breaking the contact between their lips unwillingly.

As much as he wanted to continue kissing her, he didn't want to do anything that would upset her. And as he stared into her surprised green eyes, he felt that he made the right decision.

But still he found it impossible to pull away from her completely, his face was still just inches from hers, their lips just a breath apart. And it took all the restraint he had not to kiss her again.

He hadn't ever really kissed a girl. Sure he had been kissed a few times against his will by his psycho fan girls but this was the first time he made a conscious decision to kiss someone.

Kushina sat on the log, not breathing. Her world was spinning and she was afraid that if she made the slightest movement or took even the slightest breath, then reality might hit her in the face like a brick.

Minato had pulled away from her and after reaching out and sweeping a strand of her long red hair behind her ears he took another step away from her, giving her a chance to clear her head.

But before she could speak, Minato flushed red and stared at the ground in embarrassment.

"J-Just. . .Forget that happened" he stammered out, his face now matching the color of her hair.

She opened her mouth to respond, but promptly shut it, unsure of what to say. He still was looking at her and she felt the need to say _something _to him but absolutely nothing was coming to mind.

"I'll see you tomorrow" he said as he hastily turned around and disappeared from her sight. She stared at where he had just been standing for another ten minutes before attempting to move off of the log she had been sitting on.

As soon as she stood up, her legs buckled and she fell to the ground with a soft _thump._ She sat there with a mystified look on her face

_What just happened?_

_

* * *

_

Kushina sat on a stool, stirring her ramen back and forth with an annoyed look on her face. Minato had said that he would see her tomorrow, but so far, it looked like that promise was going to be unfulfilled.

"Is something wrong with your ramen?" asked Teuchi, the shop owner. Kushina was one of his best costumers, and had one heck of an appetite. Seeing her not eating had surprised him, so he came to the only natural conclusion; something was wrong with her food.

She looked up at him and flashed him a quick smile. "No, it's fine, perfect like always. . . I'm just not hungry, I guess. . ."

She sighed as she looked at the empty seat next to her. _Minato should be here _she thought angrily. She wanted to talk about yesterday. She hadn't been able to say anything last night, but she had thought of nothing else since. She had finally pieced together how she actually felt, and was now ready for a confrontation.

But she couldn't exactly do that while he kept on running away. The shop keeper chuckled, which drew her attention.

"Something funny?" she asked with a wary smile.

"Not really" he said as he chuckled to himself "I finally figured out why you're not hungry"

"Oh?" she said while raising an eye brow apprehensively "Care to share?"

"Your lonely without your boyfriend to keep you company" he said glancing at the empty seat next to her "Where is Minato anyways? I haven't seen him all day"

She flushed at the "boyfriend" comment before muttering that she would like to know the answer to that herself. She gave Teuchi some money for her untouched food before walking out into the street and heading towards the hospital.

It wasn't like she was injured or sick, but she needed to go to the hospital because that was where Tsunade would be. And Tsunade would know where Jiraiya was, and Jiraiya would know where Minato was.

Luckily, after rounding a few corners, she spotted the older white haired man standing suspiciously close to the women's bath and was saved a trip to the hospital. She frowned in disapproval, but she didn't exactly feel like lecturing him today on his bad habits.

"Jiraiya-san" she called out as she jogged up to him. He looked up guiltily in alarm, but calmed slightly after seeing it was only Kushina.

"What is it?" he hissed in a whisper "I'm trying to do research here!"

She glared at him and bit back her remark. She didn't have time for this.

"Will you take me to Minato's house?" She asked her cheeks turning a light pink. "I've never been there before and I really need to talk to him. . ."

Jiraiya snickered before putting his telescope away. "Ha ha sure, let's go. . . I had no idea you were so bold Kushina-chan"

She flushed another shade of red but refused to rise to the provocation. So they walked in silence with Jiraiya leading her along. She was surprised; from the route they were taking she could have sworn that Jiraiya was leading her to her own home. But seeing as Jiraiya had never seen her house before, that was impossible. . . she hoped.

They walked about two blocks passed her apartment before Jiraiya pointed to a house that she assumed was Minato's. Noticing the red head's sudden anxiety Jiraiya smiled and elbowed her in the side.

"Don't worry" he said with a wink "His mother is rarely home, I'm sure no one will interrupt you two. . ."

"That's not what I'm here for!" she exclaimed her face turning the color of her hair. After scolding him for a few more minutes, he eventually departed and she was left alone, in front of Minato's house, with no _real _course of action.

She took a deep breath and walked up to his house and knocked. She decided that she wouldn't dwell on plans. That wasn't like her anyways. She did what she felt like, said what she wanted and refused to have regrets.

Minato _was _going to hear her out, whether he wanted to or not. He had no choice in the matter. She was Kushina Uzumaki and she refused to back down. From this, or from any other challenge thrown her way.

* * *

Minato had been just moping around his house all day since yesterday night. He had promised Kushina that he would "see her tomorrow" but he highly doubted that he would. What could he say to her? "Oh hey, I know that I'm your best friend and all but I've secretly been in love with you!" Yeah. Not happening.

And so he had avoided going out all day because, knowing his luck, he would run into her- literally. He felt a bit pathetic and knew that he'd have to deal with it eventually, but the idea of handing right now seemed absolutely terrifying to him.

_She probably is freaking out right now _he thought with an annoyed sighed _she didn't have to look _so _surprised when I kissed her. . ._

Even though he had asked her to try and forget about the kiss (out of his fear of rejection) he couldn't imagine forgetting it for even one second. It had been the best moment of his life. Honestly.

Her lips _were_ as soft as they seemed and actually kissing her. . . that was better than in any of his dreams. Everything about her enticed him. Her long hair, that felt like silk in his hands: her soft, red lips: and her scent. She smelled like flowers, which was weird because he was pretty sure Kushina spent absolutely no time near flowers, nor did she wear perfume.

He sighed as he allowed himself to become lost in his memories. Everything was so vividly engraved in his mind, and secretly he hoped that the same was true for her. He wanted her to be thinking of him and how he felt about her.

He wanted her to realize the extent of his love but doubted that she would. He barely understood it himself. One day he was just her friend and gradually without him noticing or making a conscious effort he realized that he had fallen in love with her.

A knock on his house's door pulled him from his reprieve. For a split second he had the thought that it might be Kushina, but then he remembered that she didn't know where he lived so that was impossible.

But of course, as his luck would have it, it was Kushina. She was running her hands through her hair and seemed almost shocked that he was standing in front of her, even though _she _was at _his _house.

"M-Minato" she stammered in surprise, looking clearly flustered and embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't of come I'll just go-"

"Do you want to come in?" he asked nervously, interrupting her. It comforted him that she was nervous but not that much_. Why is she here?!!!! _His mind screamed at him, but he tried to appear calm so he didn't freak her out more than she already was.

She nodded and stepped through the doorway into his house. The first thing she did was look around. His house was like any other house she had been inside of. She didn't know what she had expected it to look like, but she was surprised it looked so normal. It actually reminded her of her home in whirlpool which made her feel a mixture of things.

He walked over to a white sofa and sat down. He gestured for her to take a seat, and he was surprised when she sat next to him on the coach instead of in a chair like he had intended.

Her being so close made him anxious. He was waiting for her to start the conversation, since she was the one who come to his house. He was so jumpy that he thought he was going to go insane if she didn't start talking soon.

But she didn't speak. Instead she stared at him with an intense look on her face, her early nervousness seemingly gone.

_Leave it to Kushina to be completely oblivious to my inner turmoil _he thought with an eye roll.

"I guess you know why I'm here" she said slowly, as if she was carefully choosing her words.

"Yeah. . ." he said swallowing hard. She began to clasp and unclasp her hands, slowly twining and untwining her fingers together and apart as she spoke.

"Well. . . Even though you said you wanted me to forget about what happened, I hope you realized that that is . . . pretty much impossible, right?"

He nodded, not trusting his voice to speak. She was going to tell him that she never wanted to see him again, just like he had feared.

"I'm not very good, at expressing my feelings in words" she said biting her lip "but I think I have to let you know how I feel, or else our friendship will be ruined. . .so I think it might be easier . . . to _show _you how I feel. . ."

She bit her lip again and looked down at her hands, before turning her gaze back at him. He stared back at her with a confused look on his face, not understanding what she just said.

She sighed in frustration before turning his face and bringing her lips to meet his roughly. Unlike the first time he had kissed her, she wasn't as shy. Maybe because she already knew how he felt but their kiss quickly turned from innocent to passionate.

All the feeling that he had felt yesterday came flooding back into his mind as he pulled her closer, trying to breath her in. If this was a dream than he honestly didn't care if he ever woke up. He must have been delusional to think that yesterday was the best day of his life. It couldn't hold a candle to how it felt to have her in his arms, knowing that she returned his feelings

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Roxie: Thanks for reading, even though i haven't updated for soooo long! i had re-read my own story before i could write this chapter because i had forgotten what is about! Special Thanks to Jeanne, Tamar, and nonamemanga who really motivated me to put this back up! And of course everyone else who reviewed! **please flame and review!!!!!**


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